Serious Crime in Trinidad & Tobago

On the 3 January 2015, at 7.00 pm news time seven murders have been recorded for the New Year.

The government but more so the Minister of National Security tells us that 'serious crime' is down. Well isn't that something to be grateful for! (She said sarcastically).  So tell me: "what defines serious crime"??  Does the attack by two men on my daughter in broad daylight, two minutes away from home in 2014 constitute 'serious crime'?  Or is it just the 'murder' cases?  We closed 2014 with over 400 murders. Four hundred and three to be precise. The figures were not down from 2013 even though  in that year when it looked as though things were totally out of control, a State of Emergency was called.  It would seem that was a good thing because had that not been the case, the statistics would have been much higher than the flour hundred and seven that closed the year.  The worst year between 1994 and 2014, was a figure of five hundred and fifty in 2008.  In 1994 the murders for the year were one hundred and forty three. It went down slowly over the next few years but there has been a steady increase since 2000 when we recorded one hundred and eighteen.

Between 2002 and 2007 there were three hundred and thirty eight kidnappings, some of them ending in murder. 2008 to 2014 saw  thirty and again some of them ending in murders.  These are not just statistics for some of us because we happened to know some of those people.

I know several families who have had members kidnapped and several too who have lost a loved one to  murderers.

So back to my question: "how do the authorities define serious crime"?  To me any crime is serious. Murder, kidnapping, rape, domestic abuse, theft, child abuse,incest.........  these are figures of 'serious crime'

Murders and kidnapping figures look like this: (source TTCrime.com)

1994 to Present, Crime Statistics - TTCrime.com:

Thanks to our source for providing information. If anything here may be incorrect, please let us know.

Year:	Murders:	Kidnappings**:	Notes:
1994	143
1995	122
1996	106
1997	101
1998	98
1999	93		15 were female
2000	118		24 were female
2001	151
2002	171	29
2003	229	51
2004	260	28
2005	386	58	117 murders were in the POS District with 70 in the Western District
2006	368	17
2007	395	155
2008	550	11	Big increase in the number of murders. A significant drop in kidnappings for ransom
2009	509	6
2010	485	4	The month of June had the highest number of murders for the year: 55
2011	354*	2	January and July had the highest number of murders at 46 in each month
2012	383	5	According to the police the murder total for 2012 may be lower (to be verified)
2013	407	0
2014	403	2

The country has been told that the Hanging Bill will be reintroduced into Parliament in 2015.  Do we really want this? I have written about capital punishment before but I honestly believe that we have reached the stage where criminals don't care whether they live or die anymore. Especially those involved in gang related crime. They know they are going to die one way or the other.  It is so bad that they no longer cover their faces or worry about cameras catching them. 

And other serious crimes between 1990 and 2001  look like this. Do these 'serious crime' figures include murders? Kidnappings?

Serious Reported Crimes Previous Years

1990 -- 16,202 1991 -- 16,157 1992 -- 17,680 1993 -- 19,547 1994 -- 18,614 1995 -- 16,783 1996 -- 18,093 1997 -- 16,989 1998 -- 15,796 1999 -- 16,260 2000 -- 17,132 2001 -- 17,133 Shouldn't these 'Other Crime Statistics' be seen as 'serious crime'?? http://www.ttcrime.com/about.php

Other Crime Statistics Year: Theft*: Rape**: Notes: 2008 4,483 670 2009 5,535 642 A significant increase in break-ins / burglaries 2010 5,007 632 * Burglaries and break-ins only. ** Includes incest and other sexual offenses