Crime drops but no let up in gun murders

Crime in Bermuda is falling — but gun killings remained at the same level last year compared to the year before.

The latest statistics released by police show that five men were shot dead in 2012, the same as in 2011.

But there were fewer gun injuries, with seven in 2012 and 11 in 2011.

There were also fewer murders year-on-year, with a further three non-gun murders logged in 2011 compared to last year.

The overall crime rate dropped by 382 offences (8.7 per cent) last year compared to 2011, with 3989 offences recorded for 2012.

That compares to a total of 4371 offences for 2011, although the comparable figures for the last quarters of the year show a 3.4 per cent rise (30 offences) compared to the same period in 2011.

A report on crime said: “There were an average of 77 offences a week in 2012 compared to 107 offences a week in 2008, reinforcing the view that the long term trend of all crime in Bermuda has been decreasing.”

But the report added: “There was a minor increase in year-on-year firearm incidents with 53 in 2012 compared to 53 in 2011.

“There were 30 forensically confirmed firearm incidents in 2012 compared to 26 in 2011 and 54 in 2010.”

Firearms incidents include cases where shots have been fired, but no one has been injured, as well as the seizure of guns or ammunition.

Crimes against property have also fallen over the two years, by more than 11 per cent (320 offences).

There were 2541 crimes against property logged in 2012 compared to 2681 the year before.

The report added: “Traffic collisions continue to decrease both in quarterly and yearly comparisons. There were an average of 35 traffic collisions a week in 2012 compared to 47 traffic collisions a week in 2008.”

Drug enforcement activity, however, dropped by more than a third in 2012 compared to the previous year.

There were 580 incidents logged in 2012 compared to 900 in 2011 – a fall of 380.

But the report added: “Drug enforcement activity has decreased since 2011, however, the long term trend continues to increase.”