MORE than 1,000 murderers are roaming free in this country, Homicide Bureau figures for the past four years have revealed. These killers are partying at the clubs, standing in line next to us and passing in front of police stations.

Between January 1, 2005 and May 4, 2008, 1,304 murders have been committed with just 279 being detected.

This means that the families of 1,025 murdered victims-the number of unsolved homicides-are still waiting for their justice.

When police refer to a murder being detected they mean that people are charged with the crime.

Of the 279, at least 20 per cent have walked free as several cases have collapsed in court.

Now this year, not only has the murder rate skyrocketed by over 70 per cent over the same period last year, the detection rate has fallen drastically.

Of the 155 murders recorded by the Homicide Bureau only 13 have been detected-8.3 per cent-compared with 29 of the 91 murders last year being detected. The Express tally of the number of murders for the year however stands at 161.

Comparatively for the same period in 2005 the detection rate was 28 per cent, 21 per cent in 2006 and 31 per in 2007.

Two months ago ACP Homicide Maurice Piggott during one of the police’s weekly press conference admitted that anti-crime measures were failing and that they had to be reviewed.

He had said then: ’Sometimes your best plans fail if you are not eternally vigilant. Clearly some plans did not yield the results we wanted, but to suggest an outright failure is not right.’

Since his statement two months ago on March 3, 83 murders were committed compared with 72 for the first three months of the year.

Based on what Piggott said, more murders have been committed in a shorter space following a review of anti-crime strategies they found lacking.

Police Commissioner Trevor Paul could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Through his communications department the Express wanted to find out from Paul what new measures the police would be putting in place to deal with the murder scourge and what he thought was responsible for the more than 70 per cent increase in the rate.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning has repeatedly said that the drug trade was responsible for the increased murders. Police statistics have also shown that gang-related murders are fuelling the upsurge.

Gang violence has accounted for 69 per cent of the 155 murders and drugs only five per cent.

The rise in murders is even more worrying as in 2007 for the same period there was a 51.64 per cent decrease in the rate compared with 2006 and last year still ended with a record 392 homicides.

Up to March 5, 2005, 110 murders were recorded, 138 in 2006 and 91 in 2007.

At the end of those years 386, 371 and 392 murders were recorded respectively.

And as has been the case in previous years the East-West Corridor between Carenage and Arima has accounted for 129 of the 155 murders this year, a total of 83 per cent, with the remaining murders scattered throughout the rest of Trinidad and Tobago.