The Medellin Mayor’s Office claims that the city saw 31% fewer murders in September compared to the previous month.
From September 1 to September 28 the office recorded 124 murders, 55 fewer than the 179 recorded during the same period in August.
Mayor Alonso Salazar said the statistics showed the city is accomplishing two important goals. “The numbers show that we are reducing the homicide rate to a number which, by the end of the year, might be 10% or 15% less than at the end of last year. Secondly, we see that we are accomplishing what we can call advances in governance in difficult-to-control neighborhoods through increased access to public services.”
The Mayor’s Office highlighted citizen cooperation, and the hard work of the city’s prosecution and police force as important contributors to the success in combating crime. An increase in arms seizures to 1,619 weapons, up slightly from 1,594 during the first nine months of 2009, and the capture of 2,261 alleged criminals and gang members so far this year, were emphasized.
Medellin has seen significant increases in violent crime since 2008, with more than 1,600 murders in 2009, and 2,500 forced to flee their homes to escape the violence from competing criminal gangs.
