The number of homicides in the country is currently stands at eighty compared to one hundred and seventeen at the same time last year.
Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe recently spoke with ZNS News about the positive trend. He said, “at the end of the year the police will look at all the statistics. And so for instance at one point we saw persons being murdered who were on bail. My recollection is that those numbers are down this year.”
The Minister also shared some of the efforts of the government to curb crime in the country. “We amended The Bail Act and you had a more robust approach by the courts in refusing bail and the Office of the DPP in objecting to bail. So you have to look at everything to see what is the cause of the decline.”
According Munroe the government has invested heavily in preventative measures. He highlighted youth programs like HYPE, Second Chance and the revitalization of Urban Renewal and other programs.
Though the murder rate has decreased the amount of suicides and suicide attempts is a cause for concern. Munroe said, “the most disturbing trend that I’ve seen recently we’ve had a number of murders that relate to, one would say, lack of self control, relationship disfunction. Those are troubling because we have to address those as well. That’s not the classic criminal that people think about but it’s something that’s ending up in murder. And then we’ve seen a number of suicides and attempted suicides this year and we have to be concerned about that as well.”
