BVI News

RVIPF catch 45 in every 100 criminals | Crime drops by 9%

Police Commissioner, Micahel Matthews

Statistics at the end of August have shown that crime has dropped by nine percent, and local police are catching just fewer than half of every 100 persons that commit an offence.

Police Commissioner Michael Matthews said those were the statistics cited in a Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) report recently handed to the governor.

He said the territory’s crime rate has actually been decreasing over the last five years. Recorded crime has decreased by 23 percent since 2013.

“What does that equate to? It’s over 350 less offences … Of course, we don’t have thousands and thousands of offences each year — at the end of 2017, we actually recorded just over 1,200 crimes for the territory. The point is that, over the last five years, the trajectory of crime has been going down across a lot of categories including some of the ones that cause the most concern like robberies and violence.”

45 in every 100 offenders get caught 

The top cop further reported statistics showing that the RVIPF’s ability to detect crime has improved.

“What I mean by that is our ability to catch and deal with criminals is increasing. So, at the end of August, we had achieved a target of catching 45 percent of people who were committing crimes in the territory.”

“For every 100 crimes that were committed in the territory, we were catching people in 45 cases and dealing with them through the criminal justice system. Some might say: ‘well, Commissioner, shouldn’t it be sort of 100 percent? Shouldn’t be 80 percent?’ Of course, we’ll work on that but … the average around the world is considerably lower.”

All things considered, local police “don’t do too badly in terms of the number of offenders that they catch”, the commissioner said.

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24 Comments

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  1. Not sure this news is something to smile about says:

    45 in every 100 offenders get caught? Then 55 in every 100 offenders get away with their crimes. Not good. Grade wise, that’s a C.

    While the reported 9% decrease in overall crime is welcomed news, clearly there is a lot of work left to do. I commend the RVIPF for their effort, but I personally believe the community needs to and can do more to improve those stats.

  2. Good policing Equates to Fair policing says:

    45% of every Afro Caribbean nationals get caught. That is welcomed news.

    0% of non Afro people living here are never caught.Are all law abiding people? Hardly not it is presumed. But law inforcement is trained to leave them untouched.

    Well, some will say they are not out there doing what the others do, and that is true, to an extent.

    However, if that population is scrutinized and watched as the Afro community is, there is sure to be revealed activities ranging from drug smuggling to usage to “white collar crime.”

    Yet, according to the arrest and court case statistics, only the Afro community commit crimes in the BVI..

    From a pure human perspective, that is highly unusual, isn’t it?

    Fair policing should be applied equally to all communities, not just one while the other live in completely freedom from.

    Like 6
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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes your right. The white expat community who spent millions of dollars building villas or buying yachts are out there peddling drugs, robbing and stealing, rapping and murdering. Need to be on the look out for all those white criminals you racist b——s.

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      • @Anonymous says:

        Lost your girlfriend buddy? Don’t be so tough on yourself, it’s okay.

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      • @Anonymous says:

        In case you didn’t know, most of those villas you speak of are locally owned Mr. KKK. Go back to your little trailer park with your nasty thoughts.

        Like 4
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        • Please says:

          Yes not to mention the alleged coke and sex parties that some say is happening.

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        • Anonymous says:

          I guess we have a difference of opinion as to what a villa is. Your definition “ a structure that houses people”. My definition is “well kept, landscaped, painted, proper roof, no trash in the yards, no boats or cars rusting in the yard”. Yes you are right, most of your definition villas are locally owned. Sorry, excuse my mistake.

          Like 8
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          • @Anonymous says:

            Would rather have a rusting vehicle in yard than a rotten hateful maggot in the mind, a stone for a heart and prejudice acid in veins for blood.

            Why do you peddlers of hate and insults stay here?

            You and your obvious supporters of hate are of no good contribution to humanity.

            Indeed, your comment are a blight to the intellect of those decent people who read them.

            Please find some tissue and wipe the filth from the mind,then find a one way ticket back to the clean and hateful villa, will you.

            Like 1
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    • Jane says:

      As a white person, I do agree. White people commit crime and do seem to get away with it.

      The type of crime they are committing may not always draw the attention of the cops: fraud/white collar crime – hard to detect, probably rare, needs specialist cops with forensic accountancy skills to build a case. This is not low-hanging fruit.
      Drug-taking/distributing: very common here amongst the ex-pat community but deals dont happen on the streets and there is little desire from the wider ex-pat community to snitch, there is no “victim” to report the offense.
      Drunk-driving, driving without license/valid insurance: also very common. But if there is no crash, no injuries, there is no enforcement. I would like to see speed/traffic cams, breathalysers and truly random stop and search. Sick of hearing white people tell me smugly “there is no drunk driving laws here”. Its irresponsible, untrue and absolutely not how they would behave in their home country. I’d like to see a few (white) people slung in jail for a week or two so that this pervasive attitude is brought to a quick end.

      White ex-pats here are not generally young guys (under 25), short of cash, under-employed. They are employed, skilled professionals. They are unlikely to burgle houses.

      They dont show up on the cop’s radar unless they get into some sort of fight.

      Go to a majority white country (excluding US which has a politically driven strategy of keeping black people down) and you’ll find most people being prosecuted for crimes are young white males. Go to a majority afro-caribbean country and you’ll find most people prosecuted for crimes is young, black males.

      I think the cops in BVI are poorly trained, poorly managed and poorly equipped but I dont think they have a policy of not going after whitey. But maybe that’s just my white privilege skewing my view.

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  3. Good policing Equates to Fair policing says:

    45% of every Afro Caribbean nationals get caught. That is welcomed news.

    0% of non Afro people living here are never caught. That is bad news!

    Are they all law abiding folk? Hardly unlikely. But law inforcement is trained to leave them untouched.

    Well, some will say they are not out there doing what the others (locals)do, and that is true, to an extent.They live in a segregated community.

    However, if that population is scrutinized and watched as the Afro community is, there is sure to be revealed activities ranging from drug smuggling to usage to “white collar crime.”

    Yet, according to the arrest and court case statistics, only the Afro community is represented in those statistis; Hence,only the Afro community commit crimes in the BVI..

    From a pure human perspective, that is highly unusual, isn’t it?

    Fair policing should be applied equally to all communities, not just one while the other live in completely freedom from.

    Like 5
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  4. Rubber Duck says:

    As long as you don’t count obvious blatent crimes like the scooters breaking noise and nuisance laws, riding without licenses or helmets, dangerous driving and so on , plus all the other crime you choose to ignore, then you can make the statistics say whatever you want them to.

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  5. strupzzz says:

    Arresting innocent people and letting the criminals walk is what you guys are doing just so yall can look good….yall need to really start doing ayu jobs

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    • Gumption.official says:

      They have… when it comes to you, you will be the first person to called out police Harassment.. make up your mind.

  6. Jacperlance says:

    That’s all every white commissioner who come here cares about anyways. Once statistics look good, they don’t give a darm about anything else.

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  7. hmm says:

    that is a terrible statistic!

  8. Ndp heckler says:

    The ndp have 11

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  9. Stats are necessary!! says:

    If you say crime is going up then prove it. Stats is the only way. It is how the world works!! Only in the BVI do we give facts based on our feelings.

    Go on other Police websites, see what there detection rates are. They use stats. When ypu compare, the RVIPF is doing pretty good.

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  10. Iconoclast says:

    The RVIPF arrest 45 of a 100 alleged criminals (arrest does not neceassily equates to guilt) that equates to a 45% rate of arrest. This means that 55 or 55% of the culprits are not apprehended. In a college or university setting, 45% equates of an F, a failing grade. Nonetheless, a thumbs up is due to the RVIPF for its arrest and conviction record.

    Undoubtedly, statistics can be twisted and misleading; the glass can be seen as 1/2 full or 1/2 empty. The article suggests a 9% drop in crime through August. The question is what types of crime are decreasing? What is the rate for violent and property crimes? What is the rate for white collar crime relative to blue collar? What is the rate for persons of African descent vs persons of Western European descent? No need for anyone to go off like a rocket; I’m politically incorrect.

  11. Only Angels says:

    My house has been burgled twice since Irma. I reported the first one – my generator was stolen – and never heard anything back. Didn’t bother to report the second one which happened 2 weeks ago. I wonder how many are like me – cant be bothered. I’ve decided to get a security camera as that seems to be the only way to get justice in the BVI.

  12. Justice says:

    Since crime is down that means the police have more than enough time to work on the many unsolved murders and bring the criminals to justice. I know there are many families and friends of the victims who are still waiting to see justice for their loved ones.

    • Data.FROM.Star.trek says:

      It is likely that for the second burglary nothing was stolen or the value of what was stole is less than than that of the generator stolen in the first burglary the reason you did not bother to make a report. I am sure if a considerable sum of money or expensive jewelry were stolen you would have reported the second burglary with the same expectation you had when you reported the first: find stolen product and bring offender (s) to justice (unless they are family or friends).
      You should report a crime every time. Your report is not just used to generate statistics. The data collected from your report contains massive amount of information that help is the prevention and detection of crimes, the police just don’t publish that information.

      Have you ever seen a Ad about something you are really interested in acquiring just mysteriously appear on your phone/tablet/computer? Its not magic/fortune telling/mind reading, it data collected from you during frequent use of those devices especially on social media that has allowed you to get these targeted Ad.

      The Police can use these data for more targeted policing.

      Like 1
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  13. Not sure this news is something to smile about says:

    I was doing my best to put the best face on those numbers; however, if we are grading on a scale of 100, one cannot argue with your assessment.

    The reason for my C is because I recognize that solving crimes cannot lie solely at the feet of the RVIPF. It requires a cooperative effort between us citizens and law enforcement, something that imo is lacking.

    For the effort the RVIPF makes in an environment of too often mistrust and disrespect from certain members of our community, I believe they deserve some credit in solving anything at all.

    We all have a role to play in keeping our country as free as possible from crime. Perhaps if some people in our community could see the RVIPF in a differing light, work with them when and where needed, as oppose to seeing them as their enemy… perhaps the crime stats could be better.

    Unfortunately, I do not anticipate any improvement sson, because certain negative attitudes towards law enforcement are too entrenched imo…but there is always hope that can change.

  14. How sad says:

    The COP is using the Press to solidify his reappointment for a next three years

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