Significant plunge in murders
Published:Sunday | December 26, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
THE DRAMATIC events surrounding the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the alleged drug kingpin and reputed leader of the 'Shower Posse', was easily the most compelling story on the crime scene for 2010.
The Coke episode, which gripped the nation for a month, not only attracted unflattering international attention, it sent ripples through the national Budget.
The International Monetary Fund, which has a US$1.2 billion standby agreement with Jamaica, pointed to the unrest stirred up by Coke's extradition as one of the reasons it revised the country's economic growth target downwards to -0.5 per cent for the current fiscal year.
Coke, who was also called 'The President' as a symbol of his control over the west Kingston community of Tivoli Gardens, saw his empire begin to crumble in August 2009 when he was indicted in New York on gun and drug-trafficking charges.
However, the Government refused to sign the resulting extradition request, saying United States authorities had not provided sufficient information on Coke's co-conspirators, and that evidence contained in the request was illegally handed over to them.
After nine months of intense pressure from Washington, Prime Minister Bruce Golding directed Attorney General Dorothy Light-bourne to sign the request.
A state of emergency was imposed in sections of the Corporate Area and St Andrew as thugs loyal to Coke waged fierce gunbattles with the security forces to block his arrest.
At the end of the two-day stand-off, at least 73 people were killed, dozens were injured, and thousands rounded up and detained.
For four weeks, Coke managed to elude the security forces before he was captured in a sport utility vehicle driven by colourful pastor, the Reverend Al Miller, along Mandela Highway on June 22.
He waived his right to an extradition hearing and was handed over to US authorities on June 24.
No bad news
Coke's extradition was not all bad news, however, as the May 24 incursion into his west Kingston stronghold to arrest him marked the turning point in the dramatic reduction in murders and other serious crimes over the last seven months.
Up to last Sunday, some 1,380 homicides were reported, a clear indication that murders will be significantly less than the 1,680 recorded last year.
Statistics compiled by the police show that 634 of those murders were reported in the seven months after the incursion.
This is in sharp contrast to the 747 murders recorded in the five preceding months when the escalating crime rate sparked widespread public outcry.
A breakdown of the statistics shows that 141 homicides were recorded in January, 109 in February, 173 in March, 137 in April, and 187 in May, all of which represents increases over the corresponding months last year.
However, in the first month after the incursion, the police recorded 94 homicides, the first time in three years that murders dipped below 100 over any one-month period.
This was followed by three consecutive months of decline, dropping to a three-year low of 78 murders, the number recorded in September.
Carnal abuse went up by eight per cent while rape remained the same.
These gains were buttressed by the 667 illegal firearms and 34,152 assorted rounds of ammunition seized by the police this year.
A gun was used in 1,043 of the murders reported so far this year.
Police statistics show that 1,168 males were killed this year, down from 1,376 last year; 139 females, down from 158 last year; 57 children, down from 80 last year; and 16 police personnel, up from 11 last year.
The community of Tredegar Park in St Catherine was the scene of one of the most tragic events.
Five men and three women, including an 11-year-old girl, were killed when heavily armed gunmen sprayed several houses with bullets before setting two of them on fire.
Fifty-eight double murders have been recorded so far this year and five triple murders, down from 70 and nine, respectively, for the same period last year.