Senior Superintendent Rishi Singh of the Homicide Bureau has revealed that 121 people have been charged with murder last year.
Singh, who was speaking at the weekly press briefing at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain, said of this number, 89 had been charged from 75 reports.
The remaining 32 people were charged with murders solved by the cold case unit over the last five years.
So far this year, 21 people have been killed, surpassing last year’s comparative figure.
Singh said last year the police solved 100 murders, of which 75 had been committed that year, translating to a 13 per cent detection rate.
Singh said the police were not satisfied with that rate.
Singh re-confirmed the 2022 murder toll ended at 605 and gave a breakdown of the circumstances of the homicides committed last year.
These were: gang-related killings (245 murders), drug-related matters (95 murders), revenge (79 murders), robbery (52), altercations (51), unknown causes (47), domestic (non intimate) (13), domestic (intimate) (12), relationship-motivated (eight), unknown (five) and rape (one.)
He said the homicides so far this year had included 12 that were gang-related, five of unknown circumstances, and one owing to an altercation.
He is appealing to members of the public to reach out to the police to expose details on illegal items such as drugs, firearms and false number plates for cars.
Singh said, “We need citizens to be our eyes and ears, to assist us.” He said such help could help the police retrieve items before they were used to commit crimes.
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