At a regular monthly press briefing held this Thursday, senior leadership from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) has laid out an updated overview of the island nation’s crime landscape for the first nine months of 2026, revealing a mixed picture: overall criminal incidents have fallen compared to the same period last year, but law enforcement is sounding the alarm over a growing trend of criminals using illegally modified weapons, particularly those fitted with extended and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Superintendent Delvin Mathurin, who heads both the RSLPF’s Central Intelligence Unit and its specialized Gangs, Narcotics and Firearms Unit, presented the full set of crime statistics to media covering the update. The data covers the period from January 1 through September 23, 2026.
On homicide, the most serious category of violent crime, the figures show a year-over-year decline: 48 homicides were recorded across Saint Lucia in the review period, down from 59 recorded in the matching nine-month window of 2025. So far this year, investigators have cleared 22 of these cases, including one cold case carried over from 2025. Despite the overall drop, firearms remain the dominant weapon used in fatal violence on the island. Of the 48 homicides recorded this year, 36 involved a gun, accounting for 75 percent of all homicide cases. The data also reflects a stark gender gap among victims: 94 percent of those killed were men, with just five female homicide victims recorded over the nine months.
Mathurin emphasized that law enforcement views the persistent role of guns in lethal and violent crime as a top ongoing concern. “The consistent use of firearms to carry out homicides and attempted murders underscores the ongoing problem of weapons proliferation across our borders,” he told reporters. He added that the scale of the issue makes cross-agency collaboration more critical than ever for groups tasked with curbing the illegal gun trade.
Over the review period, RSLPF officers recovered 46 firearms across the island. Of these, 37 were classified as lethal weapons, while nine were categorized as less lethal. Pistols made up the vast majority of seized weapons, with 31 confiscated. The remaining recoveries included one rifle, four shotguns, one revolver, three air rifles, two air pistols, and multiple imitation firearms. Along with the weapons, police seized 1,580 rounds of live ammunition and 40 separate firearm-related components and accessories. Among the seized parts were 33 ammunition magazines, multiple extended magazines, and receiver components used to modify firearms.
Mathurin explained that the pattern of seizures has given investigators clear insight into how the illegal gun market is evolving in Saint Lucia. “These findings point to an ongoing trend where we see that criminals tend to prefer and have leaned to the modification of their firearms when they’re trading guns, particularly through the use of the extended and high-capacity magazines,” he said.
Beyond firearm-related crime, the full crime statistics show a broader downward trend in overall criminal activity across the island. A total of 10,061 crimes were reported between January and September 2026, which is 474 fewer incidents than the same period in 2025. Broken down by police division, 2,483 crimes were recorded in the Northern Division, 3,633 in the Central Division, and 3,945 in the Southern Division.
Police also broke down data for seven high-priority crime categories. The report recorded 321 burglaries, 131 robberies, 222 drug offences, 172 firearm offences, 85 stolen motor vehicles, 243 cases of theft from a person, and 136 sexual offences.