The first month of this year had a downward trend in the number of homicides with a total of 20 fewer cases compared to the same period of 2018.
According to data from the Ministry of Public Security (MSP), in the first 31 days of 2019 the responsible authorities handled 39 murders, while during the same period last year there were 59 deaths. There has not been such a significant monthly decrease since November 2015.
Also, in 2017, 72% of homicides were committed with firearms; last year, this percentage also decreased, to 68 out of every 100 murders.
Michael Soto, Minister of Security said that, to maintain these encouraging figures, the MSP is committed to increasing preventive actions such as mega-operations.
We are providing our police bodies with the resources necessary to achieve an increasingly greater containment of crime,”
said the chief.
Last year, the Public Security forces, in joint work with police from other institutions, executed 61 mega-operations, while in 2019, 10 such operations have already been carried out.
As a result, in 2018 the authorities managed to confiscate 457 firearms from gangs.