Crime statistics - politicians and police love to quote them - but no matter how they fluctuate - the feeling of citizen security rarely increases.
Yet, still, the numbers debate rages on - and today on Sunup the Minister of home affairs continued it.
April has the most murders so far for 2023, with a total of 11, in comparison to June and September of last year being the highest with 13 each. A report from the Belize crime observatory details that the Belize City murder rate declined in 2019, from 102 in 2017 to 82 in October of 2020.According to the Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa, once it's in black and white the crime numbers don't lie which is why he claims that crime has drastically fallen compared to when they first took office.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries
"When we first came into office in November 2020, I remember receiving calls, if not every night, every other night of a murder happening. And that is just basically a small snapshot of what was happening for thirteen years, that was happening all along. We are talking about a hundred-and-fifty murders per year on average during that time. And I have now in this year, the two and a half years later, can say that it's now maybe once every week or every two weeks that you get a phone call. Sometimes it does come in waves, but I can certainly feel where it has lessened a lot. The black and white, the statistics are showing that crime is down, violent crime is down. And so you just have to look at that. You don't have to believe me but look at that."
