Above: Kingston (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Murders in Jamaica reached a nine-year low in 2012 as part of a “significant reduction” in criminal activity, according to Jamaica National Security Minister Peter Bunting.

But the 1,087 murders in Jamaica in 2012 were still “unacceptably high,” Bunting said.

The Minister said that there were accompanying reductions of 7 percent in violent crimes, sexual offences and acquisitory crimes, he said, with fatal police shootings also dropping by 7 percent.

The data came from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Statistics and Data Management Unit.

Jamaica’s seven police divisions showed “significant reductions” in murders, with St Thomas seeing the biggest decrease in murders at 38 percent.

Portland saw the smallest improvement, with a decrease of 10 percent.

According to the Transnational Crime and Narcotics Division, ganza seizures and eradication increased, with the haul of cured marijuana up by 41 percent to 51,900 thousand kilograms in 2012 from 36,700 kilograms in 2011.