The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE three murders happening so far this week, National Security Minister Marvin Dames said crime is down in the country.

He said there is still a concern of someone being murdered or getting injured, adding he has been hearing from the police commissioner on a regular basis and expressed confidence that the top brass in the police force are on top of those incidents.

He also said recent lockdown and curfew measures may have reduced incidents, but criminals were still looking at ways to break the law.

“As you know, crime is down. We started the year with crime being down.”

He added: “I’ve been following internationally and you know countries are still plagued with crime. Now, it may be at a reduced level because we have curfew. We have lockdowns. But you know people still live in communities. When you are not having domestic issues, you’re still having issues with persons living in communities whether it’s a conflict. These things don’t go away with curfews and lockdowns. They may be reduced because it reduces the opportunity for persons to commit crime, but you know a criminal all of a sudden doesn’t move away from crime because there’s a lockdown and there are curfews. They look at opportunities to see when they can strike.”

A man was shot dead on Tuesday night and another left in hospital while a man and a woman were killed in Freeport, pushing the murder count for the year to 26 according to this newspaper’s records. At the same time last year, there had been 29 murders, according to The Tribune’s data.

Last year, crime declined by seven percent overall, yet there was a four percent increase in murders and a 12 percent rise in armed robberies.