Manager of the National Crime Prevention Fund Prudence Gentles, yesterday said that the number of successful calls being received by Crime Stop has been trending upwards.

Successful calls are those that lead to a breakthrough in police investigations or the seizure of guns and other contraband.

"From the beginning of this year to the end of May, calls were more than 500. We have had 29 firearms recovered this year as opposed to 24 for the whole of last year," said Gentles, pointing to an increase in overall calls received in recent years.

Gentles said that already $ 4.2 million have been paid out in rewards as opposed $2.4 million all of last year.

"Last year there were 92 successes, which means that we got an arrest or we got guns or we got drugs. In 2016 there were only 72 successful calls," she told the Gleaner.

Gentles’ comments followed the recent release of data by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) noting that there was a 74 per cent increase in the number of calls last year in comparison to 2016.

The PIOJ noted that “calls received included 2019 for illegal firearm and ammunition; 142 for gunmen, 112 for illegal gambling, 56 for drug related issues; 51 for murders and 41 for wanted persons.”

Meanwhile, Gentles has warned parents to be on the look-out as children are more prone to making prank calls to emergency lines during the periods when school is out.

“We still get the prank calls, especially from the children while they are on vacation. We don’t count them because it is impossible to count,” said Gentles, noting that overall the number of useful calls have been on the increase in recent periods.

“Just like how they need to stop them from calling 119, we would also like the parents to stop them from calling 411 because quite often they are doing so when there might be a genuine emergency, and a lot of children do the prank calls with their parents knowledge,” said Gentles.