The most significant crime story of 2025 is that Jamaica recorded fewer than 1,000 murders. The sub-700 figure represents the most substantial decline since the 1980-1981 period, when murders fell from 889 to 490, representing a 45 per cent reduction in a single year. Since the start of the 21st century, Jamaica has recorded fewer than 1,000 murders only in 2003, when 976 murders were reported.

This context matters. We have had years when more than 1,500 murders have been reported: 2005 (1,674), 2008 (1,620), 2009 (1,683), and 2017 (1,647). The challenge before us now is not simply to celebrate progress, but to anchor it. Key stakeholders, most notably the Government, are committed. The appeal, however, is to you, the citizens of Jamaica, to work even more closely with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in 2026 to ensure this change endures.

Crime reduction is not achieved through a single strategy. Many lines of effort must be pursued simultaneously. My focus here, however, is on one foundational truth: Illegal firearms are the primary tools that enable Jamaica’s most violent crimes. Eliminating the illegal possession, manufacture, trafficking, proliferation, and use of prohibited weapons is, therefore, central to reducing heinous and violent crimes.

In 2025, the JCF recovered 1,201 firearms, the largest number seized in any single year, accounting for approximately 15 per cent of the 7,772 guns recovered over the past decade. Since 2016 an average of 80 per cent of all murders have been committed with firearms. In 2025 alone, 74 per cent of the 673 murders recorded involved guns. Firearms are also central to robberies, sexual violence, and shootings, with shooting figures consistently mirroring murder trends.

The Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act, 2022 provides the legislative framework for investigations. Jamaica’s firearms legislation is intentionally stringent, recognising that the illegal possession and movement of guns underpin the vast majority of serious violent crimes. The Act, therefore, prioritises incapacitation, deterrence, and disruption of the firearms trade, even when offenders are not otherwise linked to gangs or violent acts.

Since the Act came into force, a cumulative total of 3,651 people have been arrested and charged: 1,107 in 2023, 1,253 in 2024, and 1,291 in 2025. Notwithstanding these large numbers of arrests, the appetite for guns remains strong, with an unacceptably large number of young people willing to risk the possession and use of firearms.

Understanding why requires an honest look at the economics of the illegal gun trade. In the United States a new Glock pistol typically costs between US$500 and US$600, while used or stolen firearms may be acquired for approximately US$200. Similar pricing applies to the Taurus G2c, now among the most frequently imported firearms. At the higher end, when converted to Jamaican currency, a new Glock pistol costs approximately $96,000. In the guns-for-drugs trade with Haiti, 50 pounds of Ganja is exchanged for a pistol valued at roughly $150,000. Locally, pistols are sold for as much as $400,000, while rifles can command prices approaching $1 million.

Trading in firearms from a financial perspective is lucrative and, as a consequence, the Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division (FNID) has been arresting individuals on firearm charges who are not gang affiliates and, in general, are non-violent. The Act prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years upon conviction for trafficking and dealing in prohibited weapons. Over the past three years, 51 charges have been laid for dealing, 52 for stockpiling (being in possession of, or causing to be accumulated, three or more prohibited weapons or 50 or more rounds of ammunition), and 19 for trafficking.

Investigating these offences is not without challenge. The offences around the trade of firearms require investigators to establish ‘knowledge’ on the part of the suspect. Achieving this would be easier in a compulsory questioning regime. The participants of a trade, which provides the tool to kill 80 per cent of those murdered, when caught, may rely on all the dimensions to the right to remain silent.

Investigating to prove custody may also be challenging, as there is neither a reverse nor an evidential burden in circumstances when custody is not obvious. These absences explain the challenges with making an arrest and laying charges when the recipients of a package, known by the police to contain prohibited weapons, make collection. Another difficulty is that players must notify, or procure notification of, the media for a broadcast to be made, so actors along the chain are typically alerted to the find.

Law enforcement attention is focused even more so on the users of illegal firearms. For the period 2023-2025, 62 per cent of all charges from the Act were for possession of a prohibited weapon. For that period a total of 923 people were arrested with a firearm, 395 more than the 528 killed in confrontation from whom a firearm was recovered. A total of 1,451 gunmen were impacted, yet we still have serious challenges with gunmen.

Possession cases often proceed without the need for civilian witnesses. This creates an opportunity for public assistance without fear of exposure or retaliation. Information shared discreetly can save lives.

I have shared my thoughts to highlight the large volume of work already done, provide insight into the mammoth task ahead, and ask for your help.

We have revamped the Narcotics Division to establish an FNID that can leverage the technology and know-how developed over decades of enforcing the Dangerous Drugs Act, with provisions similar to the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act. FNID currently records an 88 per cent conviction rate. The Criminal Investigation Branch provides supervisory oversight of all cases of possession of prohibited weapons investigated up to trial. Each instance resulting in a not-guilty verdict is subjected to a post-mortem review to strengthen future prosecutions.

Legislation and policing alone cannot remove the tools of crime from criminals. In this regard, I call on every citizen to stand with the JCF by providing information, recognising that every illegal firearm removed is a life potentially saved, perhaps that of a neighbour, a child, or a loved one.

Richard Stewart is a Jamaica Constabulary Force deputy commissioner of police.

Since 2016 an average of 80 per cent of all murders have been committed with firearms.

Richard Stewart