Puerto Rico is experiencing a drop in crime rates as local residents and police are finding new ways to track problems and improve public safety.

Just last year, the island had the lowest number of murders when compared to other rates in the past 15 years, according to the Associated Press. Three years ago, the island reached its record high with about 1,164 murders. Since that time period, the murder rate in Puerto Rico fell by 40 percent, and violent crime overall saw a drop of 17 percent.

Amidst a drop in the murder rate, the Caribbean is still facing drug-trafficking violence. Many of the crimes in places like Puerto Rico and Jamaica involve gang battles or people robbing others to feed a drug habit.

Luis Romero's 20-year-old Puerto Rican son was stabbed to death during a holdup in 2011. Now, Luis is among the many Puerto Ricans helping to improve public safety in their community.

"The people have said enough is enough," Romero said. "Puerto Rico got fed up with the level of crime."

Romero created a mobile app that enables users to report suspected crimes anonymously. The app has been used in over 6,000 tips since its release.

"The cooperation of citizens has been key in helping us solve murders and seize weapons," said Lt. Ricardo Haddock, sub director of criminal investigations in the north municipality of Carolina. "Everything's so much faster with technology now. People are cooperating more than ever."

The FBI expanded its involvement in Puerto Rico back in 2011 after a Justice Department report found issues in the U.S. territory's police force, which involved corruption and illegal killings.

Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic, there were fewer than 2,000 murders in each of the past two years for the first time in over a decade, ABC News reported.

Killings were the lowest in 11 years in Jamaica, while Trinidad and Tobago saw a 27 percent drop in murders from its record high in 2008.

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