Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has pointed to police statistics which she says show a decline in murders under her administration, arguing that the data demonstrates the effectiveness of the Government’s crime-fighting measures and the State of Emergency (SoE).
In a statement issued on her social media pages yesterday evening, Persad-Bissessar said that from January 2026 to July 20, 2026, there were 213 murders, compared with 331 during the corresponding period in 2024, the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) last full year in office. She said this represented 118 fewer murders over the period.
Persad-Bissessar also claimed that, based on murder rates recorded during 2023 and 2024, there had been approximately 400 fewer murders across 2025 and 2026 combined than would have been projected had those trends continued.
She argued that if the PNM had remained in office, there would have been about 400 more murder victims, based on the murder rates recorded during its administration.
The Prime Minister further said murders had declined in every police division between 2024 and 2026, with the largest reductions recorded in the Port-of-Spain, Western and Northern Divisions.
She said those divisions include constituencies traditionally regarded as PNM strongholds and rejected criticism from Opposition MPs, saying the data showed those areas were becoming safer because of the work of the Government and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service under the SOE.
Persad-Bissessar said the statistics indicated that both the Government and the TTPS were making positive progress under the SoE for the benefit of citizens.
Over the weekend, police were called to investigate a triple murder at a gas station in Laventille and the double murder of two men in Siparia.
On Monday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of Administration Junior Benjamin boasted about the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service’s ability to keep the murder rate at lower levels than last year.
Speaking with reporters during a tour of the 1990 attempted coup exhibit at the TTPS Museum on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, Benjamin reported that there were seven fewer murders for the year thus far compared to the same corresponding period in 2025.
