12% hike in serious crime at end of August compared to last year

At the end of August 2015 the Guyana Police Force said it recorded a 12% increase in serious crimes in comparison to the same period in 2014.

Among the serious crimes considered 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 police release today said that a total of 104 murders were recorded at the end of August 2015 in comparison to 98 murders at the end of August 2014, an increase of 6%.

Unto the yesterday, 10th of this month, September 2015, four more murders have been recorded, police said.

At the end of August 2015 robbery under arms overall had increased by 3% in comparison to the same period in 2014. The statistics reflect an increase of 4% 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 similar.

There has been an increase of 65% in the number of reports of rape with 271 reports at the end of August this year compared to 164 for the same period last year. Break and Enter and Larceny and Burglary have shown an overall rise of 13%.