St Ann’s crime figures look good but St Mary and Portland drag down Area 2

Latest police data show that St Ann is one of the best performing parishes when it comes to preventing murder and violent crimes, with murders down by roughly 40 percent compared to last year.
The 23 murders in St Ann so far compare to 38 last year, a reduction of 15 or a 40 percent decline. Police point out that for the month of June there was no murder in St Ann, a rare achievement for the parish.
But the data for the other northeastern parishes – Portland and St Mary – all Part of Area 2, are not as good.
Up to August 11, St Mary has had 23 murders, compared to 13 last year for the same period or nine more, up 69 percent.
Portland, though having a small number of murders is still up by a large percentage with nine murders compared to five last year or up 80 percent. Portland also has an increased number of shootings while robbery and break-ins are down.
In the case of St Mary, shootings as well as robberies are also up while break-ins remain the same as last year. In St Mary there have been 18 shootings so far compared to seven last year a 157% increase.
In St Ann, shootings are up, from 16 last year to 20 this year or by 25 percent. However robbery as well as break-ins are both down, by 10% and 11% respectively.