Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander said yesterday aggressive stop-and-search patrols have been a major contributor to the lull in homicides in the last couple weeks, and added that while armed robberies remain a concern, they are down compared to last year, but Fernander acknowledged that sex crimes remain high.

"There's a trend we note and it's in that Carmichael Road area. There's a trend and we will speak to that trend tomorrow," Fernander said.

"A lot of it is the young females, young kids. We continue to say to the parents, you have to pay attention ... we encourage the parents to pay attention to their young ones."

The latest sex crime in the police crime report involved a woman. Police said she was robbed and sexually assaulted on New Providence on Saturday.

The woman, 38, was walking in the area of Bacardi Road shortly after 10 a.m. when she was approached by a male who exited a small gray vehicle.

According to reports received by police, the male, who had a firearm, forced the woman into his vehicle and robbed her of an undisclosed amount of cash.

He then drove to nearby bushes where he sexually assaulted her before escaping, according to police.

Last month, Fernander reported that crimes overall decreased by 28 percent between January and the third week in April.

Crimes against the person also decreased in nearly every category except for rape, which increased by 10 percent.

There were 22 rape cases up to that point, compared to 20 in 2022.

In all of 2022, there were 55 rapes reported, a 15 percent increase over 2021.

Police reported that eight victims were tourists. The majority of the reported rapes occurred at residences.

Thirty-nine percent of the alleged victims knew their reported assailant.

There were also 139 reported cases of unlawful sex last year, an 11 percent increase over 2021.

Ninety percent of the alleged victims knew their reported assailant. Sixty-one percent of alleged victims were between ages 14 and 16.

Aggressive

Though murders remain a critical concern for police, Fernander noted things have been quiet in recent days.

In just over a period of a week last month, 10 people were murdered, most of them on New Providence.

"We are doing a lot of the aggressive stop[s]-and-searches and we have the operations team that are targeting our prolific offenders, the hotspots," Fernander said yesterday.

"Within this week, you will see the saturation patrols roll out. As I said, we have 37 trucks already just being outfitted. The balance, which is 63, should be here by the end of the month, and I'm going to get that 37 out as early as by mid-week; and we will have a press briefing with that when that is rolled out."

Fernander explained, "These vehicles will remain in these hotspots and that will free up the operations team who will be targeting just our prolific offenders who continue to offend.

"We are doing our best in trying to hold the line. We are targeting our prolific offenders and we are paying attention to the hotspots, so with this saturation patrol, which is rolling out by mid-week, you will see that move to another level."

Fernander said a court designated to hear only firearm cases will also make a huge difference in ensuring swift justice.

"We had some success with individuals being charged with five or six counts of armed robberies. You see some success in there," he said.

"We've been able to catch individuals in the act or leaving, so armed robberies are down. The last report that I presented [showed] armed robberies are now down. We can't lose the focus on it."

On April 23, Fernander reported that serious crimes had decreased up to that point for 2023. Armed robbery dropped by 37 percent from 203 in 2022 to 128 in 2023, and robbery dropped by 57 percent from 47 in 2022 to 20 in 2023, he reported.

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