Final Up to date on January 2, 2026, 5:28 AM AST by Anthony Morris
St Kitts and Nevis has recorded a historic 76% discount in homicides through the interval of 2025. The variety of homicides went down from 28 incidents recorded in a single 12 months to 7 incidents recorded in a single 12 months. The Minister of Nationwide safety has confirmed that with a 76% decline in violent crimes leading to loss of life, the nation is on the correct trajectory.
The officers have additionally famous that that is the primary time in twenty years that St Kitts and Nevis has recorded such a low variety of homicides within the nation. The event is, partially being credited to fixed neighborhood motion, involvement and assist.
One other essential issue contributing to this welcome improvement is the nation’s altering outlook in the direction of crime. Beforehand, combatting crime was focussed on policing and prevention However after Dr Terrance Drew took workplace, he advocated for crime to be seen from the lens of a public well being concern.
The Prime Minister and his staff offered a transparent proof primarily based examine in assist of viewing crime as a public well being concern. He stated that like some other public well being concern, it must be prevented, held interruptions, handled in the long term and healed from the basis.
In August 2024, St Kitts and Nevis Launched the the Citizen Safety Initiative (CSI) bringing the nation away from its earlier enforcement-only mannequin. The brand new response to violent crime within the nation required complete communities to come back collectively to make definitive and long run adjustments.
The initiative targets underlying root causes of violence within the nation, together with: unaddressed trauma, social disconnection, financial stress, and cycles of hopelessness. On the identical time, the initiative seeks to strengthen public security establishments within the nation.
The Citizen Security Initiative was convened inside the workplace of the Prime Minister, with the goal of systematically addressing crime with the assist of
- Regulation Enforcement places of work and Judicial establishments
- Public Well being and Social Service Employees
- Youth leaders and neighborhood employees
- Members from the Personal Sector, Civil Society and Political places of work of the nation.
All of the members of the Citizen Safety Secretariat have been engaged on the shared final result of bringing discount to violent crime within the nation. 2025 was a profitable 12 months on this regard as for the primary time in twenty years, Homicides within the nation have been recorded at a very long time low.
Anthony Morris covers tales associated to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep evaluation of political developments and their influence on Caribbean communities.
