Police figures show over 8,000 murders since 2010
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Data produced by Minister of National Security, Robert Montague, in the House of Representatives yesterday showed that between 2010 and 2016, the parish of St Catherine has been the bloodiest, in terms of murders recorded by the police.
Over the seven-year period, St Catherine recorded 1,749 murders, followed by: St Andrew with 1,422; St James, with 1,306; and, Kingston with 977.St Catherine North, which includes Spanish Town, home of the notorious Klansman and One Order gangs, recorded 1,008, while St Catherine South, including Portmore, recorded 741.St Andrew South, which includes volatile areas like Majesty Pen, Riverton, Hunts Bay, Olympic Gardens and Greenwich Town, topped the Corporate Area divisions with 689 murders, while St Andrew Central, which includes Half-Way-Tree, had 416 and St Andrew North, which includes, Constant Spring, had 317.Jamaica’s capital city Kingston ended up with 977 murders, with 422 in Kingston Western, which includes Tivoli Gardens, Arnett Gardens (Jungle), Denham Town, Trench Town and Hannah Town; 260 in Kingston Central which includes “Southside”, “Dunkirk” and downtown Kingston.At the other end of the figures were: Portland with 69; Trelwany with 162; and St Thomas with 179. Montague told the House of Representatives that the high level of murders has become an endemic feature of the Jamaican society.He noted that over three decades (1980-2010) there has been a total of 27,354 murders, including 14,683 since the start of the 21st century.There were 8,437 murders between 2010 and 2016.Balford Henry