Email

Print

Police Commissioner Crispin Jeffries made it known that he was pushing for a 10% reduction in crime for 2009. Well, the numbers are in; he got only 4%. But we venture to say that if you ask anyone in virtually any corner of Belize – they’d say that the numbers are wrong – crime was not down. And while that’s the feeling, here’s what the figures say: In every quarter of the year, there was a decrease in the number of crimes reported. So the figure was down by 93 crime between the first and second quarters, down by 48 between the second and third quarters, and down by 288 between the third and fourth quarters.

In simplest terms, that means that there were 420 fewer crimes reported nationwide from October to December 2009 than there were from January to March 2009. If you were living on some other country – you’d say that’s impressive. But if you’re living here’s you’re probably shaking your head. Jules Vasquez was and he challenged Commissioner Jeffries, saying that while the numbers may not be a lie, the picture they paint is certainly not accurate.

Jules Vasquez,
“I know you were targeting 10%. Are you satisfied that you realized that?”

Crispin Jeffries, Commissioner of Police
“No I did not arrive at the 10%. The figures show that we were a little over 4% statistically in the total statistics.”

Jules Vasquez,
“However, are you satisfied with statistics?”

Crispin Jeffries,
“I think the statistics is as factual as we can be and we are working towards increasing that margin towards the 10%. As far as we know there is nothing to indicate that the statistics is lying to us.”

Jules Vasquez,
“There has been nothing from within the department of course because there is no external peer review. I have inserted an asterix on it, you know that, with the not for sitrep type crimes.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“That is always something that I would want us to look at and as I indicated during my presentation to you, I would be prepared to sit with you and look at this because if it is a flaw in our system we want it corrected. We don’t want to be saying something that is not true.”

Jules Vasquez,
“However you realize that the more you say, it has a inverse effect, the more you say that statistics show crime is down, the more the populace feels that you are presenting or skewing the statistics because the city feels more unsafe now than it ever has.”

Crispin Jeffries,
“I agree with you Jules that the feeling is one thing but the figures are what I believe in. I’ve looked at those figures and those are the figures that I work with. I can’t dictate how people feel but I can say to you that sensational issue does heighten the concern and the fear of the populace and we see a lot of that happening.”

Jules Vasquez,
“But do you still agree that there is massive room for improvement because the society feels unsafe and you should take no consolation in the fact that numbers which have not been peer reviewed show a 4% decrease in crime?”

Crispin Jeffries,
“I beg to differ. I don’t think because I say the figures are down that I am not doing all I can or the Police Department is not doing all we can. But to give the perception that because I say figures are down, everything is cool and calm and under control, that is not the intention and if it is the perception it is a wrong perception.”

Jules Vasquez,
“So you still feel a sense of urgency to make the society safer and that we are living in an unsafe time?”

Crispin Jeffries,
“There are times when you comments Jules would want to put words in my mouth and I select the questions that I will answer positively and those that I would answer negatively. And in a positive way I think we are in fact doing, we are urgently working to find answers and ways to solve the problem.”

Additionally, when compared with 2008 –murders were down 6%, rape down 21%, robbery down 1%, burglary down 1% and theft down 6%. Based on the most up to date figures from the Statistics Institute of Belize, which police say puts the population at 330,000, Belize’s murder rate now stands at 29 per one hundred thousand – down from 32 last year.

As we mentioned earlier, Jeffries presented those statistics at a three and half hour meeting with the media today where he also offered a look at 10 year trends. Thos figures show a conviction rate for crimes of about 30% - and only about half of those convictions were the product of full trials.