Government Senator Matthew Samuda has criticized Opposition Spokesman on Citizen Security, Senator Peter Bunting, for recent statements he made about the tracking of crime in the country.

During a recent press conference, Senator Bunting said the exclusion of incidents such as cyber crimes and lottery scamming from the major crimes report released by the police, creates a false sense of a reduction in criminal activities.

The police provide statistics for murders, shootings, injuries, rape, robberies and break-ins and last year, the total number of incidents were 4555, down from 5098 in 2022.

However, Senator Bunting said if cyber crimes and lottery scamming related activities were included in the data, the number would be higher.

Speaking in the Senate this morning, Senator Samuda said the leader of Opposition Business, who he dubbed “shadow minister of everything” should not attack the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Senator Samuda maintained that serious crimes continue to trend downward.