The police released their Official Statistics Report for 2021, noting that “while overall crime was down, the Covid-19 regulations that were in place throughout the year limited gatherings and social activities and thus affected patterns crime”.

Mr Darrin Simons, Commissioner of Police said: “The Bermuda Police Service (BPS) has released its Official Statistics Report for 2021, highlighting key crime trends and patterns throughout the year. The report reveals a total of 3,165 recorded offenses – a 4% decrease from 2020 – and the lowest number since records began in 2000.

Key Findings:

• “Offences against the person decreased from 639 offenses in 2020 to 579 in 2021.
• “The total number of property crimes fell from 1,741 to 1,735.
• “7 murders were recorded, of which 3 involved bladed items and 3 involved firearms.
• “Road collisions totaled 1,263, with 17 deaths. One of the largest numbers on record.
• “While overall crime has been reduced, the Covid-19 regulations that have been in place throughout the year have limited gatherings and social activities and thus affected crime patterns.

“While the report aims to provide timely and objective information, it has been delayed due to the need to support core policing services and functions. This required reallocating resources from backend functions to respond to service requests and apply Covid-19 measures. While the BPS continues to improve its intelligence-led policing capabilities, the immediate need was to maintain service delivery during the pandemic.

“The 2021 Official Statistics Report is accurate, objective and provides a snapshot of the crime that has taken place, but is unfortunately not timely given the 2.5 year delay. It should have been produced in April 2022. Officers routinely access real-time crime data to make deployment decisions at this time. This data must be established and undergo a rigorous review process before being released to the public. The data the report summarizes was used to support the focused deployment of resources at the operational and tactical levels in 2021, even before the report was promulgated.

“In this context, the report is useful to establish what happened from a crime perspective and to identify BPS’s response to the pandemic, along with the challenges facing our community. It demonstrates our commitment to transparency and openness in our operations.

“Finally, the Official Statistical Report 2021 serves as the final point on how the BPS records, manages and reports its activities.

Analysis and future direction:

“As Police Commissioner, I find this report both encouraging and revealing of our challenges. It captures the immense pressure BPS has faced during the pandemic, while demonstrating our commitment to community safety against internal and external threats.

“The report states that despite the exceptional circumstances, we have realigned our limited resources to support the frontline service, reinforcing our commitment to keeping Bermuda safe. However, we continue to face various internal capacity and capability threats and concerns.

“For detailed statistics and more information, we encourage the community to review the full report available on our website. Thank you for your continued support.”

The complete BPS Official Statistics Report 2021 is given below (PDF here):

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