Burglaries are now the lowest they have been in two years, according to statistics released on 11 April 2006 by Police Chiefs. The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, (RCIPS) said that the March 2006 figure for Burglaries was 46 – lower than even the lowest figure of 57 for May last year.

This downhill tumble from 84 in January, is a significant triumph for the RCIPS with stats on burglaries revealing some success for the recent crime crackdown. In recent weeks and months the service has worked hard at raising visibility on the streets as crime reached unacceptable levels and the fear of violent crimes became a serious issue in the community.

The good news continued from the RCIPS with March crime figures, as only three types of crime on the Serious and Violent Crimes list of 19 Attempted Burglary, Threatening Violence and Other Assaults – had increased numbers, compared with February 2006. And one item – Murder – remained as it was the month before, at zero.

The other 14 items on the list are Aggravated Burglary, Assault and Grievous Bodily Harm, Rape, Attempted Rape, Robbery, Attempted Robbery, Wounding, Defilement, Attempted Murder, Discharge of Firearms, Possession of Imitation Firearm, Possession of Unlicensed Firearm, Theft, Damage to Property and Threatening Violence.

However the seesawing of crime figures is something that has been a trend for some years now and, it seems as if Cayman is in for more of the same. Figures for Theft were 34, up to 52 and back down to 39 for January through to March this year.

For the same period, figures for Other Assaults were 42, down to 36 and back up to 38; and, for Attempted Burglary they were 9, 4 and then back up to 12. Seesaws were not the only weakening element – and strong sign that the RCIPS has a lot more work to be done – seen in the RCIPS’ most recent report.

When the figures for the first quarter of 2005 are compared with those for this year’s first quarter, it is clear that certain categories of crimes are taking more resources, more intelligence and, have been frustrating the RCIPS. First quarter comparisons between last year and this year show increases in most categories.

Of the 19 items, only five showed declines – with two showing no change at all from one year to the next. Significantly, comparing first quarter last year to first quarter this year, Thefts jumped 65 per cent; Damage to Property, 214 per cent; Threatening Violence 57 per cent; and Other Assaults 32 per cent. Attempted Murder jumped from 2 to 4; Defilement, from 6 up to 8; and, Wounding figures jumped from 1 up to 2.

Rape figures for the first quarter last year and the first quarter this year were seen to jump from 4 up to 5, and Attempted Rape figures from 0 up to 3. From January through to March this year, Rape only figures jumped from 0 to 4.

With percentages for this item being quite alarming, the RCIPS pointed out that most of these incidents did not involve attacks but were largely related to circumstances surrounding domestic abuse.