KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of National Security, Horace Chang has chided those who continue to question the police’s statistics on crime reduction.

In a recent statement, the minister said doubts casted around the police crime reduction figures are disrespectful to the work of the lawmen, many of whom chose the profession out of a need to help restore order to the society and not as a “last resort.”

“This government at the very beginning of this administration indicated that…crime is a priority, to settle crime. But there was a need to re-tool and expand the police force. We used some strong legislative measures which has come under pressure from the public but we’ve always accepted that we had to invest in the police,” he said. “The police have recruited over 6,000 police officers in the last five years, young bright officers who do not see police as a job of last resort. They chose to be in the police force. They are graduates of our best high schools, Universities, teacher’s colleges and they have joined the force to help restore order to the society.”

“They are committed to the cause and the mission as professionals. We’ve provided them with the additional tools and good working space so we’re having results as we believed at the very beginning,” he continued, highlighting that, “to seek to question those statistics now is undermining the work of the police.”

“It is disrespectful to the police force and in a democratic society could be considered as treacherous when violence is as high as it is today,” he added.

Minister Chang went on to highlight that the police’s method of accumulating statistics has been used for decades and is rarely questioned when the data presented casts a bad light on the country’s crime fighting abilities.

“When the statistics were bad, nobody questioned it. In fact, they were highlighted and used extensively. Recent comments by anonymous individuals and highlighted by the media is disturbing because it undermines the work of the police,” he said. “Whatever narrow interest drives that questioning and that attempt to undermine our police.”