KINGSTON, Jamaica –Security Minister Peter Bunting says there were 1,369 fewer murders in Jamaica from 2012 – 2015 than in the previous four years under the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration.

Addressing a recent People’s National Party (PNP) Face-to-Face forum, Bunting noted that the deep social roots of crimes like murder would take some time to address.

He added that it would take a combination of enhanced crime fighting strategies and measures such as a greater reliance on intelligence rather than random police raids and cordons, to see significant gains in crime reduction over time.

Bunting said that while the ministry was disappointed with the increased murder figures in 2015, unlike the significant reductions in 2014, the lowest in 11 years, the overall crime situation was improving significantly, with a major fall in crimes such as robberies and rape.

 “Progress is not usually on a straight line basis, there are advances and setbacks…there are many factors that affect an individual’s propensity to violence. Factors such as the quality of parenting and schooling they received take years to manifest…but we keep doing it because it is the correct thing to do,” Bunting noted.

The security minister observed that he was confident that with improved mobility and a range of other resources that were becoming available to the security forces, combined with social outreach measures by the government in areas such as improving community responsibility and interpersonal relationships among youths, the murder figures would fall.

He also noted that there was a 61 per cent decline in shootings by police, and an improved perception of police/community relations.