For years, violent crime has stood as one of the most pressing and destabilizing challenges facing Trinidad and Tobago, eroding public confidence and placing immense strain on government resources. A decades-long upward trajectory in homicides has turned the issue into the defining political flashpoint for the nation’s major parties, with campaign promises around public safety shaping recent electoral outcomes.
Leading up to the April 28, 2025 general election, the United National Congress (UNC) made national safety a central pillar of its campaign, tapping into widespread public frustration over the surge in murders that unfolded over the 10-year tenure of the preceding People’s National Movement (PNM) government. Now, one year into the UNC’s term, new crime data offers a mixed picture: while overall homicides have dropped to their lowest level in 15 years, violent crime remains a persistent reality for communities across the country.
Since the UNC won power in 2025, the nation has recorded 353 murders through late April 2026. As of April 24 this year, 111 homicides have been registered, compared to 127 murders on the same date in 2025. By the end of 2025, the full annual murder toll hit 367 — a figure that aligns closely with the 355 murders recorded in the PNM’s first year in office after its 2000 election win. But when placed in the context of long-term trends, the 2025 number marks a dramatic reversal:
Historical data shows the national murder toll climbed steadily from 354 in 2011 to an all-time record of 626 in 2024, the final full year of PNM rule. That 2024 toll included the deaths of more than 40 women and 10 children, pushing public anger to a breaking point. The 2025 drop to 367 represents the lowest annual homicide count recorded in the nation since 2011.
Firearms remain the dominant weapon in homicides, responsible for more than 80% of all killings. The widespread availability of high-powered weapons has also driven a pattern of multiple-victim attacks: between 2025 and early 2026, there have been at least 94 incidents with multiple casualties, including 33 double homicides, 8 triple homicides, 4 quadruple homicides and 2 quintuple homicides.
To address the escalating gang violence that drove the 2024 murder peak, successive governments have turned to states of emergency (SoEs) as a core crime-fighting tool. During the PNM’s first term, COVID-19 public health restrictions — including stay-at-home orders, border closures and business shutdowns — acted as de facto movement limits before a full SoE was declared in 2021 amid a pandemic surge. As pandemic restrictions lifted, homicide rates climbed steadily back to the 2024 record, prompting the PNM to call its first anti-crime SoE in December 2024, which ran through April 2025.
Since taking office, the UNC government led by Kamla Persad-Bissessar has declared two additional SoEs. The first, launched in July 2025, targeted violent criminal networks operating within the national prison system and remained in place until the end of January 2026. The current active SoE, declared on March 2, 2026, was implemented in response to rising organized gang activity and direct threats against law enforcement and protective services.
Despite the controversial nature of emergency measures, early data suggests the strategy is delivering measurable results. Beyond the 2025 annual drop in homicides, projections for 2026 point to further reductions, with current estimates putting the full-year murder toll around 355 — matching the PNM’s first-year figure and continuing the downward trend from the 2024 peak. This decline is also visible across other categories of serious crime:
Trinidad and Tobago Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro recently reported that serious reported crimes (SRCs) have dropped 30% year-over-year, falling from 3,413 incidents in the first four months of 2025 to 2,397 over the same period in 2026. Guevarro noted that all policing divisions across the country have recorded reductions, ranging from 32% to 55% compared to last year.
In remarks to the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Westmoorings, Guevarro pushed back against widespread public anxiety over crime, arguing that public fear is being amplified by political and special interests with their own agendas. He warned that unfounded fear distorts public behavior, raises operational costs for local businesses, discourages foreign and domestic investment, and erodes public confidence in government and law enforcement.
Guevarro also defended the ongoing state of emergency, emphasizing that the measure is not designed to restrict the lives of law-abiding citizens or hinder legitimate business activity. Instead, he said, emergency powers are targeted exclusively at violent actors and organized criminal networks. Over the first 42 days of the current SoE alone, police conducted more than 3,500 targeted enforcement operations, made over 1,500 arrests, and filed 340 criminal charges. Guevarro framed these actions as evidence of consistent, aggressive disruption of criminal activity, adding that while violent crime remains a real challenge, widespread public fear is often disconnected from the improving statistical reality.