Local NewsNews Crime levels down by Emmanuel Joseph 09/02/2021 written by Emmanuel Joseph 09/02/2021 2 min read A+A- Reset Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce Share FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 352 Barbados recorded an eight per cent decline in crime last year. In making the announcement during an interview with Barbados TODAY, Deputy Commissioner of Police with responsibility for Investigations Erwin Boyce also provided figures to show that crime has been on a steady downward trend over the past five years. Boyce said that for 2020, the total number of reported crimes stood at 7,079 compared to the previous year’s 7,660. He attributed the decline to the work of his officers and the manner in which they have been investigating law-breakers. “Secondly, people are becoming more aware of crime prevention, the need for crime prevention, the need to be vigilant and if we look at 2020, we might say that the lockdown initially might have slowed down crime. While we might not have seen that manifested in certain property crimes, we had crimes of breach of protocols and curfew, that were new crimes to the stats, but were actual crimes, the Deputy Commissioner stated. He also gave a breakdown of the status of the various categories of major crimes. You Might Be Interested In Crystal Beckles-Holder, 2nd runner up in regional competition GUYANA: Body of child found after gold mine collapses Barbadians asked to help with return tickets for Haitians “In terms of major crimes against property, which would be like burglary, criminal damage, sacrilege and so on, we registered a 23 per cent decline. In real numbers, we had 1,792 reported cases in this category for 2019 and 1,373 for 2020. For crimes against the person, we had 2,240 cases in 2019 and 2,184 last year. That is the whole spread like murder, rape, serious bodily harm, endangering life and robbery. This category recorded a three per cent decline,” Deputy Commissioner Boyce told Barbados TODAY. He explained that crimes against the person accounted for 31 per cent of all offences while crimes against property represented 38 per cent for last year. The senior police management official said crime in Barbados has been on a steady slide since 2016. Boyce said that over the past five years, the incidence of crime in Barbados has been dropping from 8,004 cases in 2016, and with the exception of 2017 when the figure was 8,358, the decline continued in 2018 when total offences reported stood at 7,921. (emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb) Emmanuel Joseph You may also like Update: Person of interest identified and charged 18/02/2025 Man remanded on firearm and ammunition charges 18/02/2025 Man charged with handling stolen property granted bail 18/02/2025