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Thousands of crimes remain unsolved

There was also a huge backlog in crimes still under investigation at the end of 1995, the figures show.However last night senior Police officers said the statistics painted a misleading picture and that the trend was reversed last year.

1995, according to Government figures.

There was also a huge backlog in crimes still under investigation at the end of 1995, the figures show.

However last night senior Police officers said the statistics painted a misleading picture and that the trend was reversed last year.

Government released it annual statistical survey of Bermuda life earlier this week and one section includes law enforcement between 1985 and 1995.

Figures show that the number of true crimes -- those admitted to in court -- was 4,019 in 1985.

There were convictions for 1,171 crimes, 226 were taken into consideration, where a defendant admits to crimes but is not prosecuted for them in court, and 709 were dealt through other methods including juvenile court or warnings.

Another 142 were pending before the courts, 1,761 went unsolved and 10 were pending further investigation.

Crime peaked in 1993 when there were 6,324 true crimes, 1,039 convictions, 135 crimes taken into consideration and 1,021 dealt with through juvenile courts or warnings.

In 1993, 585 crimes were pending before the courts, 2,527 crimes were unsolved and 1,017 were pending further investigation.

According to the figures for 1995, when the crime trend had started to fall, there were 5,233 true crimes, 853 convictions, 274 taken into consideration and 555 dealt with through other methods.

There were 434 crimes pending before the courts, 2,123 went unsolved and 1,014 crimes were pending further investigation.

Recently Police Commissioner Colin Coxall stated that he expects crime for 1996 to fall again from the previous year, although it will be March or April before the crime figures for 1996 are made public.

Last night a senior officer, who asked not to be named, said the statistics could be misleading and suggested understaffing in previous years could be one reason for the rise in unsolved crimes and those pending more investigation.

The number of Police officers was cut in the early 1990s in a cost-cutting measure and crime peaked in 1993 before starting a downward trend.

He also said many of the unsolved crimes would be very minor and that the file would not be closed on any major crime.

"As regards convictions, some of the crimes were not dealt with in 1995 in the courts and there is a fall in the number of unsolved crimes last year,'' added the officer.

"As for crimes pending investigation, perhaps there were more people investigating crime in 1985. The service was cut back and that could be a reason for the increase in pending investigations,'' said the officer.