Police took five guns off the streets in the first six months of this year amid a slowdown in the frequency of firearms crimes.Commissioner Michael DeSilva pledged to keep the heat up on would-be gunmen nonetheless, in the wake of five gun deaths and four injuries so far this year.Statistics revealed yesterday that there have been 28 firearms incidents in the past three months.Of those, 13 were confirmed, and police recovered three guns. The other 15 were unconfirmed.The figures showed a decrease of seven incidents compared to the first three months of the year.Police admit there has been a “substantial increase” in firearms incidents between 2007 and 2010,” mainly due to gang-related violence.However, the trend so far for 2011 shows this type of crime going downwards since it hit an all-time high last year.There have been 27 confirmed firearms incidents this year, from which five people were fatally shot and four others were injured.The Commissioner said: “The pace of confirmed incidents has slowed down; this time last year there had been six deaths and 14 injuries.“We don’t take a huge amount of comfort from this while lives are still being lost through gun violence, but the lull is a welcomed change from 12 months ago. It has allowed us to keep the pressure on enforcement operations while dedicating resources to quality investigations.”A total of 16 men have lost their lives since a dramatic escalation in gang-on-gang violence began in May 2009. Another 46 people have been left injured.The police chief said: “Since May 2009 we have had 15 trials for murder, attempted murder or firearms offences that have resulted in 12 guilty verdicts. One person is currently standing trial, and another 16 people have been indicted and are awaiting trial.”He was speaking before news yesterday afternoon of a not-guilty verdict in the trial of Leo Burgess, who was accused of involvement in a gunpoint robbery at a Southampton home (see separate story.)The Commissioner went on to reveal: “So far in 2011 we have recovered five firearms and two stun guns. In 2010 we recovered 11 firearms, two stun guns and seven ‘BB’ or air pistols.”He added that stop-and-searches, which are designed to combat gang and gun violence, are on the up. Police conducted 5,968 of them in the March to June period.“The average monthly rate by comparison has risen from 300 per month in 2009, to 800 per month in 2009, to 1,700 per month during this year,” he said.“The vast majority of these searches are conducted under Section 315F of the Criminal Code relating to search in anticipation of violence.“They are designed to disrupt the rhythm of gang members and discourage people from carrying weapons.“I would like to thank the rest of Bermuda’s public for their patience and support through these operations when they are unavoidably inconvenienced.”Asked if the stop and searches resulted in the five guns being taken off the streets this year, he replied: “No, none of them have been seized during stop and searches.“We are conducting thousands of searches and not turning up guns and other weapons like knives. We are turning up a lot of drugs but not weapons.“That’s some encouraging news; we are discouraging the carriage of weapons.”