And while there was one murder over the New Year weekend, it was still one too many, and meant that we ended the year with 125 murders. Now, that's a lot - 125 families who lost someone dear to them - up from 102 murders in 2020. However, it's the third fewest murders since 2012 and for the police, that's something worth noting. ComPol said that the police's aim is to continue the trend in 2022.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"The number we have at this time is 125 for 2021 and it is going all the way back to 2012, our third best year, because I think in 2016, we had 119 and 2020 - 104. All the other years we were above 130. So yes 2021 was not the year we expected or was not the best year, but we can still celebrate some extent to say that our murder count was the third best going all the way back to 10 years. It is still an accomplishment for us and we are going to ensure that we do better for 2022 to see how we can continue to reduce the murder count."
Reporter
"Some would say that the murder rate in 2020 was low because of all the lockdowns we had and we've been under a curfew since the year began. Do you think this heavily contributed to making this the third best year, the curfew along with that gang intervention we had I believe for a month."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Certainly 2020 numbers had a lot to do with the gang lockdown that we had for 90 days and we also had a number of covid lockdowns where the entire country was put on hold or placed on a lockdown and certainly that did contributed to the 2020 figure, but for 2021 we didn't no lockdowns and while yes there might be some who might say that curfew helps, that is not true. Thats a false assumption and we see around us where countries have more stricter curfew measures and yet still their murder rate was still all the way up to the roof. That is not the case with us, so I am not going to have nobody take away the effort of the police. I think that the policing effort have a lot to do with our numbers and yes certainly the gang intervention that we are currently engaged in, I think for one month already did in fact contributed for a reduction in December and we are hoping that we will see that reduction continue into this year."
The 125 murders, puts Belize's murder rate at close to 30 per 100,000 - which is likely going to make it among the top ten highest in the world. The global figures will become known closer to the end of the year.
