Statistics usually paint a complete picture and this is the case of the massive crime wave ripping the island this year.
The most important of them all, murders, are up 8 percent compared to 2009.
Police data shows that as of Dec. 25, there have been 962 reported violence deaths, 72 more than in 2009 and on pace to creep to the thousand plateau.
By comparison, in 2009, there were 13,600 murders in the entire United States, including its territories.
That’s mean that Puerto Rico accounts for almost 8 percent of all violence deaths in the U.S. despite having less than a fraction of one percent of its population.
Of the 13 police regions, 8 have reported an increase in deadly crime compared to the previous year.
Four of them, Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas and Mayaguez have seen a double digit increase.
Caguas has the dubious distinction of having the largest increase in number of murders, going from 62 in 2009 to 81 so far this year.
Percentage-wise, Mayaguez has experimented the highest hike, a 46 percent increase (24 in 2009 to 35 this year).
Even Aibonito has seen an increase in killings (20 percent) from the previous year.
Once again, the most fertile ground for killing on the island is the metropolitan area.
San Juan reports 196 killings as of Dec. 25th, a 5 percent increase over 2009. Bayamón follows the deadly trail with 169 reported murders, 13 more than the previous year.
Ponce breaks the metropolitan monopoly when it comes to crime, as they have seen 119 killings in 2010.
Carolina rounds out the list of regions with 116.
But not only murders are on the rise, robberies have increased 10 percent from 2009.
The police have reported 6,764 robberies this year, 604 more than in 2009.
In this area, Bayamón is the undisputed leader with 1,845 robbery attempts, a 28 percent hike from 2009.
San Juan follows with 1,768, a 17 percent increase.
The only bright spot in the damaging statistics is the palpable decrease in rape cases reported.
Figures provided by the police show a dramatic 33 percent reduction in that area of crime, going from 55 in 2009 to 37 so far. e acts aside from murders.
Data showed a solid, 21 percent decrease in the number of assault cases filed (2,644 compared to 3,364 in 2009).
Another statistic that points downward is crime against property, with an overall decrease of 7 percent (57,803 in 2009 compared to 53,563 this year).
Those types of crimes involve car theft, which is barely down a fraction of 1 percent (only 13 less than in 2009) and illegal appropriation, down 12 percent.
Still, the high number of killings seems to disguise any improvement in crime prevention.
The almost 1,000 murders for the year are the clearest indication that the Fortuno administration had failed in crime prevention.
It also means that police superintendent Jose Figueroa Sancha is incapable of handling the island’s biggest problem and as such, he needs to resign immediately.
That’s the opinion of Popular Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker Eder Ortiz who once again called for, not only the dismissal of Figueroa, but for a complete overhaul of the crime fighting strategy.
“The strategy of fighting crime is a shame. First of all, it is obvious to anyone that it is not working. The government needs to provide mire than a media show every time they enter a residential complex,” Ortiz said.
Golpe al Punto (Blow to the Drug Point) is one of the most criticized crime prevention program for Ortiz to its lack of depth as it is only targeted to one sector, according to Ortiz.
“That program has been an utter failure. Crimes keep happening on those areas and with a relentless pace. The police should change strategies and instead of focusing on drug addicts, should start looking for the killers,” Ortiz said.
For the PDP Senator, the Superintendent and the Justice Department needs to shift their focus from what he called “rounding out drug addicts” to a full target of those individuals who have actually pulled the trigger in murders.
“We need to focus of getting those who actually kill people. Here, the Police and Justice Department have been concentrated on napping the addicts and the people who finance the drug trafficking, but the real problem is the murders,” he said.
To combat the alarming murder rate on the island, Ortiz suggested a new focus.
First, he believed in the integration of a medial program to treat drug addicts in order to ease the weight on crime fighting in that area, moving it to the health system.
The idea seems to have broad base support as New Progressive Party Sen. Carmelo Rios and presume PDP gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, have backed the idea.
Second, the police must concentrate the majority of their resources in solving killings.
“I would assign 2 or 3 investigative agents to each murder case until it is solved. That way, the cases should be handled with more depth and better results would be expected.”
Ortiz also proposed that instead of entering the public residential complexes with police units, the government should sent detachments of specialist from other agencies in order to pave the way in the recovery of the sector targeted.
The PDP legislator argues for an intervention by the Family, Health, Education and Sport and Recreation Departments every time a Golpe al Punto operative is mounted.
“The different agencies should move inside the complex to provide social help to those individuals and families in order to offer them an alternative,” Ortiz said.
By Raul Colon for Puerto Rico Daily Sun
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