Police held off holiday crime spike – Ramnarine

The period August to September has been viewed as the time of the year during which there is the highest crime spike, according to Acting Commissioner of Police, David Ramnarine but good law enforcement efforts this year saw a 28% decrease of indictable crime in comparison to previous years.

He made this disclosure on Friday during a press conference while stating that “last year comparing to the previous year we had a 21% increase, this year there is a 28% decrease.

“I had an analysis done of the August period which is the holiday period, because we noted that in the preceding years there used to be a spike in serious crime.” He added that the police hierarchy “began to pay some particular attention to it and we are pleased to inform the public that there was no spike this year.”

As it relates to serious crime in general, the acting commissioner said the force has recorded a 19% decrease from January 1 to September 23. This includes an 11% decrease in murders, 10% decrease in robbery under arms, 23% decrease in break and enter and larceny and 22% decrease in rape.

Ramnarine said, “This… is consistent with the statements that were made before by other senior law enforcement officials that we are benefiting from and are putting into effect much needed training that we have received recently, resources we have received…”  to make the Guyana Police Force much better able to respond to the needs of society.

Broken down by division, he revealed that ‘D’ Division over the past two months has experienced a 15% increase in serious crimes.

However, some work was done and the figure was reduced to 9% as of Friday. The other divisions recorded a decrease. “A Division is experiencing a 24% decrease in serious crimes, B Division a 14% decrease, C Division 11%,  E Division a 27%, F Division 51%  and G Division 29% decrease,” he said.