Former Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said there has been a spike in murders in the last 10 weeks.
In fact, he said there have been 55 more murders since he left office when compared to the same period last year.
In a release Sunday, in response to a newspaper report which said there hasn’t been a spike in murders in the last ten weeks, Griffith disputed assertions that COVID 19 and lockdowns were responsible for the drastic drop in crime and murders in 2020.
Griffith said, “For the first seven months of 2021, we had fewer murders than we had for the same period in 2020. In the 10 weeks or so since my contract ended, there have been 55 more murders for the same period last year.”
He said, “In 18 months, or the second half of my contract, from January 2020 – July 2021, there was a 30 per cent drop in murders for the same period before, which represents fewer murders; 150 in 2020 and 50 in 2021.”
“If there were fewer murders in the second half of my contract, and 55 more than the previous year since I’ve not been there, isn’t that a spike?”
He explained that more murders for 10 weeks are almost one more murder a day than for the same time last year.
“If that isn’t a spike, then what is a spike?”
Griffith added, “Fifty-five more murders for the last 10 weeks, but we are still battling Covid, we still have lockdowns and we still have a curfew. How could those conditions be responsible for the low numbers in the last half of my contract, the previous 18 months, but not in the last ten weeks?”
He said, “How can one say that the lockdowns were responsible for the low numbers of 2020 into 2021, but ignore the fact that since I’ve not been there murders increased by 55 for the same period in the previous year?’
He said it was regrettable that he had to respond to the newspaper story but said it was important to ” push back against fake news.”
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