Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum yesterday reported that police have managed to chip away at the increase in crime, which he maintained is not out of control according to current statistics.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of police force’s Christmas plan at the Police Officers’ Training Centre, at Camp Road, Blanhum said that despite the picture painted in the media of a vast increase in crime and a force that is incompetent and cannot control it, there has only been a minute increase over the past two years.
Blanhum told an audience that included officers and representatives from the private sector that when he initially took office in June, he had announced that there was a 13% increase in serious crimes and the figures had fluctuated.
“… And then historically, if you look at the figures, between the summer period–June, July, and August—where there is another period of increase in commercial activities, where we see these artistes coming, there would be an increase in crime,” he said, while referring to the staging of concerts and other events during the period.
General elections were held in May and Blanhum also pointed out that historically after every election there is a noticeable increase in crime. “If you look at the ten year period (2006-2015) of the three election years, you would observe that with all three elections we had an increase in the frequency in serious crime,” he said. An increase in 2013, he noted, was an exception to the rule.
According to Blanhum, while there was a recorded increase in serious crimes, persons are trying to equate it to the “dark days” of the post-2002 jailbreak period, when there was a historic crime wave. “If you look at the present and you compare it to 2006, not even going back till 2002, we are less by 477 serious crimes,” he added.
Despite a bombardment of reports by certain sections of the media, he said the force was still able to bring the figure down from 13% to 8%. “We have managed to bring it down to 8% and we envisage by the end of the Christmas period we can bring it down to a -1% decrease,” Blanhum added.
He noted that the force intends to ensure that the security needs by the members of the public are adequately addressed, particularly during the festive season, which brings an increase in both economic and social activities.
Blanhum also pointed out that the increase in crime recorded this year is also as a result of a decrease that was achieved by the force last year. In 2013, he noted, there was a total of 3,350 offences committed, compared to the 2015 figure of 3,357, which represents a 0.2% increase. However, when this year’s statistics are compared with 2014’s record of 3,098 offences, it represents an 8% increase.
‘A’ Division (Georgetown), because of its high population density and large concentration of economic activity, contributed to 55% of the crimes committed, Blanhum noted. In contrast, ‘G’ Division (Region Two) accounts for just 2%.
While the majority of the robberies were committed on the streets, Blanhum said there is concern about the amount of robberies committed on public transportation, such a minibuses and taxis. While last year 29 public transportation robberies were recorded, it has almost tripled so far this year to 72.
Blanhum stated that while breaking and entering is the most prevalent offence in Guyana and accounts for 41% of serious crimes, the increase from last year to this year is due largely to the new housing areas that are developing rapidly and the fact that persons and businesses are not adequately securing their assets. He said that most times when investigations are done, it is revealed that the homeowner’s negligence made it possible for the criminals to enter their homes.
The strategies that were implemented in clamping down crime were identified as: Intelligence-led operations; deployment of SWAT on special operations; deployment of ranks based on temporal and spatial analysis; road blocks at strategic locations; choke points control; anti-crime patrols (roving patrols); deployment of auxiliary forces, including community policing groups and neigbourhood police; utilisation of the CCTV monitoring room; social intervention programmes; collaboration with stakeholders locally, regionally, and internationally; training; establishment of divisional intelligence units; divisional-based management information units, legislation; and the “successful” gun amnesty programme.
Blanhum also highlighted some of the challenges that have been hindering the force. He pointed out the judicial backlog of cases; high-profile repeat offenders released on bail that were committing further serious crimes; witnesses reluctant to attend identification parades; individuals, particularly businessmen, not taking sufficient security precautions; poor quality of the CCTV images retrieved from crime scenes; homes and buildings not properly secured; movements of large amounts of cash withdrawn form commercial banks without proper security; negligence of licensed-firearm holders which resulted in the loss of their firearms; lack of capability to conduct DNA testing locally; police corruption; lack of public trust; and the porous borders, which would leak various illegal objects and substances.
