Minister of National Security Marvin Dames said Bahamians should be celebrating the 2020 crime statistics, given double-digit decreases in overall crime, homicides and armed robberies.
“We should be celebrating the fact that overall crime is down 16 percent over [2019],” he told reporters outside Cabinet.
“And [2019] was down over the year before. We should be celebrating the fact that homicide is down in double digits. These are significant numbers – more than 20 percent.
“We should be celebrating the fact that armed robberies are down almost half, all right.”
Dames comments came a day after Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle revealed the 2020 crime statistics.
Many have questioned whether the restrictions in place for much of last year played a significant role in reducing crime. Rolle, however, told reporters that the police and their enforcement of the restrictions deserve the credit for the decline in crime in recent years.
Dames was in agreement yesterday as he noted that in many other places, crime increased last year.
“COVID ain’t going to change someone’s mindset,” he said.
“If someone is hellbent on committing a crime, you think a curfew is going to change that? That person will wait and in the cover of darkness, right within their own communities, take some backroad and commit a crime. And so I don’t want to get into that debate.”
Dames added, “We can go back and forth as to how much the lockdowns and curfews impacted the overall numbers.
“We can have that discussion back and forth. But until we see empirical data to suggest what the impact is, then why go down this path?
“Let’s commend our officers and the people of our communities who continue to work hand in hand to see that these numbers continue to decline.
“This is what we ought to be celebrating, all right.”
The post Dames: We should celebrate crime stats appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/dames-we-should-celebrate-crime-stats/
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