| For the past 2 nights, we've been taking a closer look at the total number of murders that occurred countrywide for the year 2021.
The official count is 125, which is 23 more than 2020. All that violence happened in the second year of the COVID pandemic, with a nightly curfew that was only relaxed closer to the end of the year.
So, with the curfew in a relaxed state to fuel economic growth we wondered what the plan is to keep the numbers from surging to pre COVID levels of 145 murders per year. This morning, we got a chance to discuss this topic with Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa:
Hon. Kareem Musa - Minister of Home Affairs
"That's a comparison that is oftentimes made, but it really it's apples and oranges, isn't it, because you're looking at 2020, one in which you had a curfew and a complete lockdown of the country because of COVID? And that was for a significant period. And two, you had a 90-day state of emergency. And so there were, I believe, about 20 something more murders in 2021 and 2022. But when you actually compare 2021 to the last ten years, you will find that it is relatively low compared to those other years, excluding 2020 for the reasons I just cited. And so while it is that 125 is not where we want to be by any means, we certainly look forward to reducing that number this year, 2022 again with initiatives like these. And of course, there has to be a penal aspect while we are coming from a very good place expressing goodwill. The police department also has to penalize those who step out of line who don't want to be a part of this program and who insist on living a life of crime. And so we have to certainly increase police presence, prosecution, arrests, and conviction when it comes to those individuals who do not want to follow this positive."
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