Campaign against firearm related homicides a huge success in St Kitts and Nevis

Basseterre, St Kitts – The 90-day campaign launched by the government to bring down instances of firearm-related homicides has led to a significant drop in these cases.

Attributing the success of the program to the united efforts made by the entire community, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew said that instances of firearm-related homicides have gone down by 66% during the last 90 days.

Launched in September, this year, this campaign saw active participation from law enforcement agents, government officials, community leaders, educators, and faith-based organizations, who reached out to the masses to spread the word against firearm-related homicides and other crimes.

The Prime Minister said that it has come to light that poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunities were the root causes of crime, and by addressing these, the government aims to create a safer place for its citizens. This will further improve the prosperity of the nation.

He said that in this program, the government and other stakeholders worked on rehabilitating young offenders by helping them gain vocational skills through which they could find work and give up on crime.

During the campaign, the government also seized a total of 13 firearms. The Prime Minister said that this was aimed at reducing the availability of weapons on the streets.

He said that by effectively engaging the local community in the fight against crime, the government has been successful in producing positive results as far as such crimes are related.

He said that the government was also working to build more trust between law enforcement agents and the local community members.

The government is now planning to incorporate various lessons learnt during this campaign and devise a long-term strategy to further improve the safety of its citizens.

St. Kitts and Nevis will also be sharing the learnings from this campaign at the upcoming 3rd CARICOM Symposium on Crime as a Public Health Issue.

The Prime Minister said that the focus of the government remained on promoting education, job training, and other social programs to ensure that the success of this campaign is sustained for a longer duration of time.

He said if the nation is able to provide jobs to its citizens, then it can go a long way in reducing crime in the country.