Jamaica’s Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has recorded a 47.3% decrease in security force-related fatalities for the first quarter of 2014, when compared with the similar period last year.
At the end of the first quarter, the Commission recorded a total of 40 fatalities; this is 36 less than the number recorded during the first quarter of 2013 which saw 76 fatalities.
In January 2014 the Commission recorded 22 fatalities, down from the 30 recorded in January last year. This represents a 26.6 per cent decrease; while in February 14 fatalities were recorded, down from 27 in 2013 which is a 48.1 per cent decrease.
For the month of March, the Commission record four fatalities, which it says is the lowest in the history of the Commission. Last year 19 fatalities were recorded in March, which means there has been a 78.9 per cent drop from the figure recorded in March 2013.
“We are certainly encouraged by these figures and we hope that the number will continue on a downward trajectory, going forward. It is particularly refreshing given the report of the general decline in crime during this period,” said Commissioner of INDECOM Terrence Williams said.
Last three years
According to INDECOM, for the first quarter of the last three years, the figures showed a steady increase, “as in 2011 the commission recorded 60 fatalities; the following year this figure increased to 66 representing a 9 per cent increase and in 2013, 76 fatalities were recorded representing a 15 per cent increase.”
INDECOM statistics reveal that, for the past three years, the annual figures for fatalities were as follows: 2011 – 210; 2012 – 219; 2013 – 258.
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