Commanding Officer in Charge of Westmoreland, Senior Superintendent Wayne Josephs, has reported that the Westmoreland investigation branch has cleared up 51per cent of the murders that were committed across the parish during the course of 2022.
Josephs said a total of 79 murders have been solved, of the 140 murders that were committed throughout the year.
” I believe that, that is very commendable, by international standards we are doing excellent,” Josephs said.
Josephs who was speaking at the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation’s meeting on Thursday said, the Zone of Special Operations which was established on January of last year, was established in one of the main hot spots in Westmoreland.
” In 2021 there were 15 murders in that space and I must tell you that we ended the year with one single murder in the Zone of Special Operation, and that one murder that was committed has been cleared up, someone has been arrested and charged for that murder,” Josephs told listeners.
He said this should be testament to the fact that the Zone of Special Operation has shown positive effect within the township of Savanna la mar, and more so in the parish of Westmoreland.
” The same space had ten shootings in 2021 , and we ended up with only five shootings, which is a 50 per cent reduction in the Zone.”
He said there were 53 fatal collisions for 2021 with 56 fatalities, and 31 of those accidents involved motorcycles.
” In 2022 we had 42 accidents, with 50 fatalities, so there was a reduction and out of that we had 24 motorcyclist.
He said he commissioned his team to do a study because he believes that most of the persons killed in the parish of Westmoreland, and the study shows that of the 140 persons murdered, 40 , or you could say 29 per cent of persons murdered in 2022 were involved in criminal activities.
He said these persons were directly involved, and their deaths came through reprisals, counter reprisals.
Also 14 persons of persons killed were not directly involved in criminal activities, but were associated with criminals.
