The Police Department recently announced, despite what is being perceived, that there is a reduction in crime in the country. While the numbers are certainly showing that crime is down, the perceived reality is that crime is increasing. That perception is attributed to the fact that at times there are long spells lasting months without any violent crimes being committed then that is interrupted by a wave of numerous violent acts involving various killings over a short space of time. That leads to a perception that crime is out of control. While that may be the perception, the reality definitely demands for urgent attention on the whole issue of crime.

While no one can be blamed for thinking that crime is out of control, these days we must look at the issue and understand why that is the case. If we were to examine the problem we would see that those killing each other are often young black men. More often the killings take place in Belize City. The acts here are usually related to gang activity or the settling of old scores between groups of very young men. These young men often retaliate against one another with irreversible finality. In other areas of the country when killings occur they are of less vindictive nature rather they are what law enforcement personnel have come to classify as “crimes of opportunity.”

No matter what the case is, a crime is a crime and a killing is a killing and the issue needs serious attention. If we were to begin by tackling the issue of retaliatory killings only, there are many ways that this could be achieved. If we were to look at the behaviour of young people, it could be understood that they act in the manner in which they do because they want to belong to something, to be a part of something. Often times this very fact causes older men to take advantage of the younger ones to turn them into so called ‘Shattaz’ giving them guns and money to be a part of the ‘in’ crowd. Young persons go out and commit crime and do things that are contrary to society because they have no reason to stay home. There is nothing urging them to stay at home.

Another problem with our youth is that young people with no moral moorings are having kids; they themselves never got the instruction on what it takes to do what is right by society and have no ability to pass it on to their children.

So how are these problems tackled, well it would take a concerted effort; we need to include education, sports, employment, entertainment and even religion in order to address the problem in a holistic manner. More education needs to be made available to our youth, more sporting facilities need to be made available; sports keep young people off the streets. Employment needs to be made available, after all an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Entertainment avenues need to be created - an occupied mind has little room for mischief making to set in. Religion needs to be brought to young people, sound moral values need to be instilled in our young people or the society will continue to deteriorate.