Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

Major crimes continued their downward trend last month and Deputy Commissioner of Police Charles Scarlet has attributed this to the improved relationship between the police and the public.

"Public support is important in the fight against crime and it is this winning of public support that is fuelling the intelligence we are able to gather," said DSP Scarlet.

Continued decrease

Pointing to statistics which show a continued decrease in major crimes islandwide, the DSP said that the signs were encouraging but noted that there "is still a far way to go".

Major crimes for the month of September decreased when compared to the same period last year, but murders have increased over August figures.

The police monthly crime statistics released on Tuesday showed that 480 cases of major crimes were recorded by the police in September. This is 31 per cent less than the 698 cases recorded for the same month last year.

Major crimes include murder, shooting, rape, carnal abuse, robbery, break-in and larceny.

Police recorded 104 murders last month, 10 more than the 94 recorded in August. However, compared to previous years murder is on the decrease.

Among those killed in September were six taxi drivers, six women, three children, a policeman and a tourist.