By Bennette Roach
Map of Montserrat (GIS)
Early today, Friday, April 13, 2012, the Governor issued a release outlining the crime statistics as at the end of March.
The release sated: “There were 54 reported cases of crime in the first quarter of 2012, a 40% reduction on the 89 cases reported in 2011.”
Our Editorial last week, did suggest that there was an alarm, which was almost fabricated and based on all the wrong information and reasons.
The police themselves did misread the situation as they attempted to divert the attention from what caused the attention initially. However, as they had noted to the Editor, the statistics do tell a particular story. Statistics are of no use by themselves if not read or used appropriately.
Where there were 26 assaults in 2011 over the same period, there were only 12 in 2010. Burglary 26 against 12 in 2011. Wounding, categorised as a serious crime one against four in 2011. Then murder, attempted murder, rape, attempted rape (2) attempted armed robbery, were one each against none in the first three months last year. 89 reported crimes against 54 for this year. The more reasonable question has been, “was this fair to Montserrat to make the outside world believe that peace and quiet in Montserrat was being challenged?”
It is fortunate for Montserrat that the one media that reaches the ‘real’ world is showing the real story, that might serve to correct any undue damage.
Governor Davis in addressing the issue at his last monthly press conference on March 21, was concerned about the possible damage by over reacting to the hyped alarm. “I’m concerned about it because there are three things that people who come to Montserrat say are the reasons they come to Montserrat,” he said. He explaianed, “Eessentially everyone says the same three things: hospitality of the people, the fact that you can drink the water from the tap, and there is a low crime rate.”
He then cautioned, “if we lose any of those, then we completely loose our attractiveness as a destination,”concluding, “I don’t want us to lose any of it.”
The Governor then promised that he would the Commissioner of Police, “to be more immediate in feeding information back to the press…” Referring further to the statistics, he said, “they certainly do collect them I don’t know what they do with them or how they publicize them.”
The police have reported that in most of the so-called serious crimes charges have been laid, and for others, investigations are progressing towards success, while they work to improve on areas where they have been weak.
|
Q1 2011 |
Q1 2012 |
|
| Assault |
25 |
12 |
| Theft |
13 |
16 |
| Criminal damage |
9 |
1 |
| Burglary |
26 |
12 |
| Wounding |
1 |
4 |
| Indecent assault |
0 |
0 |
| Arson |
0 |
0 |
| Robbery |
0 |
1 |
| Murder |
0 |
1 |
| Attempted murder |
0 |
1 |
| Attempted burglary |
3 |
2 |
| Rape |
0 |
1 |
| Attempted rape |
0 |
2 |
| Unlawful sexual intercourse |
1 |
0 |
| Dangerous drugs |
11 |
0 |
| Attempted suicide |
0 |
0 |
| Attempted armed robbery |
0 |
1 |
| Total |
89 |
54 |
