The Tribune

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance leader Branville McCartney has lamented the country’s crime problem, predicting that with a violent start to 2017, the stage was set for another record breaking year.

“As it was in the previous years, crime and the fear of crime continue to threaten our very way of life,” Senator McCartney said in a statement released on Sunday. “Gang affiliations, initiations, attacks and retaliations seem to now be a part of our daily conversations and the systematic eradication and extermination of young men in communities has become the norm.

“Even as local police continue to work tirelessly to address some of the issues impacting our communities they continue to be impeded by government interference, a judiciary struggling to keep pace with the growing needs of the country and a prison system which for all intents and purposes has become a factory for the criminal element, turning low risk first time offenders into prolific, hardened criminals. Coupled with major reforms in these areas the DNA has, and will continue to advocate for the widespread reform of our criminal laws and penal code, including those relative to the enforcement of capital punishment.

“This year and well into the future we cannot continue to treat the country’s crime epidemic as we have in the past. It cannot and must not be business as usual. The status quo must be no more. Instead we must tackle the problem from all sides, both the social and legislative aspects must work together to create synergy, harmony and an abiding respect for the rule of law.”

According to The Tribune’s records, there were 11 homicides in the first 18 days of 2017.

However in 2016, overall serious crimes fell by 26 per cent, the most significant year-to-year drop since 2004, according to statistics released by Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade earlier this month.

This included a 24 per cent drop in murders, falling from a record 146 in 2015 to 111 in 2016, according to police statistics.