Although the police have reported a 2% drop in serious crimes for the first six months of the year, armed robberies are still on the increase.
In a statement on Monday, the Guyana Police Force said it has noted an overall decrease by 2% in the number of serious crimes recorded and a decrease in the number of murders compared with the corresponding period last year.
There were 1,616 reports of serious crime made by the end of May compared with 1,648 reports at the end of May 2011. Some of the offences monitored were murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping.
At the end of May 2011, 57 murders had been recorded while this year 51 have been recorded, an 11% decrease. Of the 51 murders, 23 were of the disorderly type, two were committed during armed robberies, seven domestic related, three execution type and 16 are so far unknown.
Police added that armed increased by 23% at the end of May, with 433 reports compared to 352 for the same period in 2011.
These statistics indicate an increase of 17% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms, and a 35% increase in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.
