St Elizabeth major crime down 38 per cent as murder count rises to ten

WESTERN BUREAU: Major criminal offences in St Elizabeth are running well below last year’s pace, yet the rise in killings is keeping residents and law enforcement on edge, Superintendent Coleridge Minto told councillors on Thursday.

Minto, who heads policing in the parish, presented his update at the monthly sitting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation (StEMC). He said the division has logged 73 major crimes to date—44 fewer than the 117 recorded over the same window in 2025, a fall of 38 per cent.

“So far to date, the division has recorded 73 major crimes. This is in comparison to 117 major crimes for the same period last year, a reduction of 44 or 38 per cent,” Minto said.

Homicide is the lone category moving in the wrong direction. “The only area of increase is in murders, where the division has recorded 10 murders compared to five last year,” he added.

Other headline offences are trending down: shootings by 45 per cent, break-ins by 49 per cent, robberies by 11 per cent, aggravated assaults by 62 per cent, and larceny by 45 per cent.

Across the parish’s 11 police stations, Santa Cruz leads with 13 major-crime reports. Black River, Lacovia and Junction follow with 12 each. Newmarket sits at the bottom with a single report—the lowest figure among all stations.

“Newmarket has only one report of a major crime, and that is the lowest we’ve had among all policing stations,” Minto said.

Black River is carrying the heaviest murder burden, accounting for five of the ten killings recorded so far this year. Lacovia has seen three, while Balaclava and Junction have one apiece.

Guns dominate the lethal violence. “The firearm is the major weapon used in these incidents. Seventy per cent of the murders were committed with the use of firearms,” Minto told the meeting.

He broke down what is driving the killings: gang rivalry accounts for 30 per cent, non-criminal disputes for 20 per cent, and interpersonal clashes for 50 per cent.

“So, you will see and hear a lot of our intervention surrounding domestic violence, surrounding solving conflicts, how we manage our conflict, and how we deal with these issues before they escalate into serious and violent crimes,” he said.

Minto also flagged sexual crimes involving children, while pointing to fewer rape reports parish-wide. He cited a recent arrest: a 33-year-old camera technician from Cross Keys in Manchester, accused of meeting a teenage girl on social media and arranging several sexual encounters between 2025 and 2026.

“He was charged for having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 and also sexual grooming,” Minto said. The division logged 50 such matters last year and nine so far in 2026.

“Whether or not persons said they knew each other, whether or not in their minds they believed that they did this willingly, once the person is under 16, then no consent can be obtained,” he said.