SANTO DOMINGO, (Reuters) – The homicide rate in the Dominican Republic plunged to an 11-year low in 2013 as the government used the military to back up the National Police, bucking the trend in the Caribbean where increased drug trafficking has brought more violence.
The number of homicides fell by 12.5 percent last year to 1,975, compared with 2,258 in 2012, according to statistics supplied to Reuters by the attorney general’s offigce.
That brought the homicide rate in the Caribbean country of 9.8 million to 20 murders per 100,000 residents, the lowest since 2002 when the rate was 14 per 100,000.
The administration of Dominican President Danilo Medina tightened security last year by calling in the military to patrol alongside the National Police.
When the troops were first sent into the streets, Medina was criticized for militarizing policing. Residents complained about the unsettling presence of machine gun-wielding soldiers walking streets and building makeshift camps in city parks.
