Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Honourable Andrew Holness (left), engages Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security and Peace, Ambassador Alison Stone Roofe (centre), and Executive Director, Citizen Security Secretariat, Ms. Dianne McIntosh, at the opening session of the Office of the National Security Advisor’s 4th Annual Security Seminar, held at the AC Hotel in Kingston on Thursday, February 19.
Crime Reduction and National Security, Inseparable and Mutually Reinforced – Prime Minister Holness
Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, asserts that crime reduction and national security are “inseparable and mutually reinforced”, as proven by the country’s reduction in murders in 2025.
Last year, Jamaica recorded 673 murders, down from 1,147 in 2024, which represented a 43 per cent reduction and a more than 50 per cent decline over the last two years.
It marks the first time in 31 years that murders have fallen below 700 and that momentum has continued into 2026, with murders down 55 per cent when compared to January 2025.
“These outcomes are not accidental. They are the result of deliberate, sustained institutional reform of Jamaica’s security architecture, combined with disciplined operational execution and an increased capital investment in our security forces,” the Prime Minister said, adding that “the government has also strengthened intelligence gathering, expanded forensic capability, enhanced domain awareness and surveillance”.
The Prime Minister was speaking during the opening session of the Office of the National th Security Advisor’s 4 Annual Security Seminar held at the AC Hotel in Kingston on Thursday, February 19, under the theme ‘Shaping National Security Outcomes from Vision to Action: Citizen Security, Institutional Resilience and Peace.’
For her part, Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security and Peace, the Hon. Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, said that the decline in murders highlights that multi-pronged, evidence-based strategies work.
The State Minister mentioned that Phase Two of the Citizen Security Plan (CSP) will expand interventions beyond Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO) communities, to disaster-affected areas, to reduce crime while strengthening peacebuilding, citizen engagement and innovation.
She stated that national security and peace are not only shaped by the safety of citizens, but by the strength of institutions, the resilience of the economy and the quality of partnerships forged.
“Peace is more than the absence of crime,” Minister Cuthbert-Flynn affirmed. “It is a condition in which trust in institutions grows, violence is no longer normalised and opportunity is widely shared. Peace also requires a cultural shift. We must move beyond viewing peace solely as a policing outcome and begin to understand it as a community experience. Peace is everybody’s business.”
The seminar reaffirmed Jamaica’s commitment to Vision 2030 and Plan Secure Jamaica, ensuring that every citizen can live, work, raise families, do business and retire in peace. It also articulates several national security imperatives of the Government of Jamaica for the next five years.