July Is High Crime Month, Police Find
For the past two years the Fiji Police Force has recorded the highest number of crimes during the month of July.
Statistics provided to this newspaper by Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho revealed that 1961 cases were recorded in July of 2017 and 1718 cases in July, 2018.
Brigadier-General Qiliho said they had not been able to link the statistics to any particular events in that month. “That is what we are trying to find out. We are planning a series of operations during those months to counter the increase that is shown by the statistics for the past two years,” he said.
“Even though last year was a bit lower it is still the highest in terms of crimes for both years.
“That is why we are trying to find out what is causing it, whether there are events that happened during that time, but there is no direct link yet.”
Notable reductions for the year 2018 include a six per cent reduction in aggravated robbery and escape from lawful custody cases, 13 per cent reduction in burglary, 10 per cent reduction in sexual offences and 35 per cent reduction in domestic violence-related cases.
Brigadier-General Qiliho said they managed to reduce overall crimes nationwide by two per cent last year and according to him there was a one per cent increase in serious crimes because of drug operations conducted around the country.
“I can say that this year we will be going harder in our fight against drugs,” he said. “For drug operations the statistics are captured in serious crimes and we have taken a good number of people to court for cultivation and also for white powdered drugs, which is methamphetamine, cocaine.”
“We are planning a series of operations and we are increasing our intelligence gathering so that we can fight this drug issue, which is a major fight for the police.”
Overall in 2018, crimes in the Southern Division increased from 6634 to 6865, there was a reduction from 7064 to 6244 in the West, an increase of crimes was recorded in the Eastern Division from 2092 to 2150 and an increase from 2338 to 2486 in the North. Edited by Epineri Vula