Belize Is 14th Deadliest Country in Region, Down From 3rd

When the Minister of Home Affairs was asked to comment on the latest crime statistics, he said that while Belize is now ranked as the fourteenth deadliest country in the region, he is still not satisfied. Minister Musa is already conceding that this year’s homicide statistics will be worse than last year’s historic low. But, he says, that has to do with the fact that Belize’s population is increasing rapidly.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“It is going down. I know that many times the media is always behind the commissioner to get interviews on the crime rate and certainly that would give you a sense that crime us all that is taking place because we have a very accessible and transparent Commissioner of Police. In terms of burglary, theft, property crimes, those are going down. In terms of homicides, particularly this year, that is going up. Last year we had a record year which took us, according to Insight Crime, to number fourteen after having been between number three and five for several years under the U.D.P. administration. We have come a long way from there but we have a longer way to go. I am not satisfied with being the fourteenth most deadly. I want to go even further down that list. So overall when you consider the last decade and thus decade it has been trending downwards. To beat last year’s numbers when it comes to homicides might be a bit difficult because we haven’t had a number like eighty-seven since 2005. So it is difficult. Towns, cities, like Santa Elena is growing, expanding and the criminals are in these expanded areas. So we have to make the adjustments at the ministry and police department to ensure adequate policing are in these areas.”