At the end of June 2015 the Guyana Police Force recorded a 9% increase in serious crimes compared to the same period in 2014, a release from the police said today.
Among the serious crimes documented by the Force are murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, robbery with aggravation, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape, and kidnapping.
A total of 79 murders were recorded at the end of June 2015 compared to 69 murders at the end of June 2014, an increase of 14%.
Unto the 10th of this month, July 2015, one other murder has been recorded.
At the end of June 2015 robbery under arms overall has decreased by 6% in comparison to the same period in 2014. The statistics, the police say, indicate a decrease of 9% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms; while the number of armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators is almost similar.
There has been an increase of 74% in the number of reports of rape with 207 reports at the end of June this year compared to 119 for the same period last year. Break and Enter and Larceny and Burglary have shown an overall increase of 9%.
Unto the end of June this year, a total of 61 illegal firearms have been recovered by the police comprising 1 sub-machine gun, 35 pistols, 14 revolvers, 4 shotguns, 6 rifles and 1 pen-gun, the police said.
The Police Force is continuing in its efforts aimed at crime prevention through its police-community partnership programme, along with social crime prevention interventions in the Policing Divisions, with special emphasis on empowering youths.
