Murder count reaches over 70 for 2014

Crime & Violence Report

Thursday, August 14, 2014. AARON HUMES Reporting: Officially, murders nationwide in Belize have reached 72 for 2014, counting the deaths of Santiago Trapp in San Pedro Town and Juan Manuel Espana in Trio, Toledo District this week.

We have obtained from the Joint Intelligence Coordinating Center (JICC) the record of reported major crimes for 2014.

Up to the end of July there were 65 murders nationwide, officially two behind the 2013 count of 67 to that point.

Seven murders have been reported so far in August.

After a slower first quarter of the year with 22 murders compared to 30 last year, the months of April to July have seen the pace pick up with 43 murders to the end of July compared with 37 in the same period last year.

Among other major crimes, there has been a reduction of burglaries from 536 to 470, but an increase in thefts with over 700 reported.

Robberies are up only slightly to 171 and sex crimes such as rape and carnal knowledge also recorded slight to moderate increases from 13 to 18 and 44 to 59 respectively.

All told there have been almost 1,500 major crimes reported in Belize over the last seven months.

Turning back to murders, according to Amandala’s study Belize City’s Southside, and specifically a 2-mile radius which features two major police stations and several police substations and booths, remains the epicenter of murders, with 15 of 18 murders in the last 11 weeks in Belize City happening on Southside.

There have been a total of 25 homicides recorded in the last 11 weeks nationwide. We will have a closer look at the statistics on Friday.

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