The Homicide Bureau has received a boost of 100 detectives to assist in outstanding investigations. Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams made the disclosure yesterday so as he sought to give a brief review of the Police Service’s annual performance during the weekly police press briefing at the Police Administration Building in Port-of-Spain.
As he noted that the murder toll for the year was due to be five short of 2013 figure of 407, Williams admitted that the Police Service was working on improving its detection rate for homicides, which has been at an average of 15 per cent over the past five years.
“The first thing we did is boost the investigative capacity of the homicide bureau. We are now exposing the members to extensive training to skill them up,” Williams said as he revealed that 119 detectives had been assigned to the unit between August to December for a trial project.
He also said the police will be starting to digitally record interviews with suspects as allegations of coercion and misconduct have been levelled against the police in several High Court trials. Williams also said the Police Service would be testing a experiment with body cameras for officers early this year.
“In any country where the detection rate for homicides is high there is a strong contribution of eyewitnesses. we know for a fact that this will come with time because confidence and trust must first be built,” Williams said. Asked about the investigation into the murder of Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal, who was shot dead in Woodbrook in May, Williams assured that there will be closure in the case early this year.
“Lead investigator DCP Glenn Hackett is dealing with this. The investigation has been proceeding and advancing,” Williams said. While he hailed 2014 as having the lowest number of serious crimes in over 30 years, he said he closely monitoring an increase in reports of sexual offences over the past 12 months.
However, he was unwilling to say conclusively whether the increase meant that there more sexual offences during the period or if it was due to more victims coming foward to report attacks than traditionally expected. “What we have seen is an increase in reporting. I don’t want to give that as a clear reason but there is a corelation between this and the increase,” Williams said.
Williams also praised preliminary statistics which showed an over 25 per cent increase in illegal firearm seizures and a 34 per cent drop in stolen vehicles.