Shyne on Murder Rate, “Let’s Not Get Ahead of Ourselves.”

Shyne Barrow

While acknowledging a marked reduction in the number of murders that took place last year, the Leader of the Opposition was sure to advise that government shouldn’t get ahead of itself since this achievement simply marks the beginning of a concerted effort to keep violent crimes at a minimum.

Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“I am happy that moderate improvements are being made because we have to keep everything in context.  The statistics reduced drastically in 2020, we went down to one hundred and two.  During the UDP administration, we were at ninety-nine, I believe that was the lowest.  We had a drastic drop in 2013, from 2012.  So again, while I am happy that we are making moderate statistical improvements, I would encourage the Minister of Police, the Commissioner of Police and the Prime Minister not to get ahead of themselves because there’s a lot of work to do.  I always take my hat off to the Belize Police Department and all of the hardworking police officers that we have, that do their best to serve and protect us, but there is a lot of work to do so that we can have the systematic overhaul that we need so that we can not just have fifteen less murders than we had in the lowest period during the U.D.P. era, but to have a complete drastic reversal downward trend when it comes to murder.  So there is a lot of work left to be done.”