The province of Santa Fe registered in 2024 the lowest number of homicides in the last decade, according to data obtained and elaborated jointly by the Secretariat of Criminal Policy and Human Rights, dependent on the General Prosecutor's Office of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MPA), and the Information Divisions of the 19 regional units of the Police of the Province.
The period analysed runs from 1 January to 25 September, during which time 132 intentional homicides took place throughout the province. Of this figure, 100 (76%) occurred in the departments of Rosario (70 cases) and La Capital (30).
In these first 9 months, the year with the highest number of violent deaths was 2014 (which is the year in which the information for this and other statistics on security began to be collected), with 326 intentional homicides. This was followed by 2022 and 2023, with 308 and 302 cases, respectively. This means that the 132 homicides recorded in 2024 represent a drop of 43.7% compared to the previous year.
Targeted Neighbourhood Intervention
To achieve this reduction in homicides, the Ministry of Justice and Security highlighted not only the work of the police, but also the implementation of the Focused Neighbourhood Intervention (IBF) programme in the most troubled cities of the province, a joint initiative of this portfolio with the Ministry of Equality and Human Development, the MPA and local governments, through which actions are coordinated to prevent crime and reduce urban violence and crime in the most troubled neighbourhoods, through a combination of security, social and urban planning measures.
In this sense, the report highlights that since the implementation of the IBF in the most violent neighbourhoods, there has been a decrease in cases to the point that no homicides have been recorded in recent weeks in the intervened areas.
A good diagnosis
The Secretary of Analysis and Information Management of the Ministry of Justice and Security, Esteban Santantino, added to the statistical report that "the possession of firearms decreased, the participation of men decreased considerably, homicides on public roads and the number of homicides in the context of criminality, organised crime and illegal economies decreased. These are indicators that allow us to improve our diagnosis in order to make better decisions.
Meanwhile, the Secretary for Institutional Management, Virginia Coudannes, said that "all the prevention measures that are operating in the streets today have to do with this drop in crime, through the work of the police, and the Neighbourhood Intervention Focused on the territory, where the different areas of the State work in a coordinated manner".
Finally, the director of Criminal Policy of the MPA, Augusto Montero, pointed out that "although the indicators that we observe are encouraging, we have to continue working with the same caution to tackle this problem".
