Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Kendrick Davis said Wednesday that men were responsible for nearly all murders in the Virgin Islands over the past 20 years, calling the trend a warning sign that must be addressed urgently.

Speaking at the Virgin Islands Anti-Crime Summit 2025, Davis said police recorded 81 violent incidents resulting in 88 murders between 2005 and 2025. “What is stark about this is that 91 per cent of these killings were committed by men,” he told the audience. “In almost all the cases, the victims were also male, maybe with the exception of about eight females. So we have seen a picture where males are killing males and males are also killing females. Something is wrong with our males.”

Davis emphasised that the figures excluded manslaughter and accidental deaths, focusing solely on homicides. He described the number of killings as significant for a population of 31,000 to 35,000 people.

To provide perspective, Davis compared the Territory’s current homicide rate with regional data. Using the international standard of homicides per 100,000 residents, he said the Virgin Islands’ projected murder rate for 2025 would be 16 per 100,000. That is higher than the Cayman Islands’ rate of 5 per 100,000 but lower than several other Caribbean jurisdictions, including Anguilla and Turks and Caicos.

“The figures say to us that it is not too late, but we are just in time,” Davis said. “The figures have spoken … this is a siren, this is an alarm. And if we don’t do something about it now, then it might just reach a stage where it’s too late.”