Drop in serious crimes
The Fiji Police Force recorded a decrease in the number of serious crime cases for the month of April, 2020. Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho said this was a decrease of 48 per cent when compared to the same period last year. There were 146 cases reported last month compared to 282 for the 2019 period. Serious crime includes rape, attempted rape, defilement, murder, aggravated robbery, burglary, arson, and theft of a motor vehicle.
For crime against women, Brigadier-General Qiliho said they recorded a decrease of 13 per cent.
April 2020 recorded 217 reports while there were 250 cases in 2019. 28 per cent or 61 cases were domestic-related, he said.
There was also a significant drop in crime against children.
“We recorded a decrease of 51 per cent 45 cases for last month while there were 92 cases recorded in April 2019.” Road fatalities recorded a decrease of 50 per cent.
The national curfew and social gathering restrictions currently in place to contain the spread of COVID-19 could be attributed to the significant drop. Drugs, however, recorded an overall increase of 200 per cent. Brigadier-General Qiliho said there were 165 cases related to drugs registered in April 2020 compared to 55 in 2019. He said this was due to the increased tempo of drug operations and arrests conducted in all five policing divisions.
Overall, the crime statistics for the month of April saw an increase in crime by 51 per cent in comparison to the same period in 2019.
“There were 2176 cases recorded in 2020 compared to 1440 in 2019 and this was largely due to the high number of failure to comply with orders arrests linked to COVID-19 breaches which accounted for 1011 cases,” Brigadier-General Qiliho said.