The Guyana Police Force is reporting a 20% decrease in serious crimes for the year up to September 6, compared with the same period last year, although there has been a significant rise in reports of rape.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, robbery with aggravation, break and enter and larceny, larceny from person, robbery with violence, robbery, burglary and kidnapping are the offences which are deemed serious crimes by the police.
Director of the GPF’s Corporate Communications Unit Mark Ramotar released the statistics for the periods of January 1 to September 6, 2020, and 2021.
For this year so far, the police have recorded a total of 1,393 serious crimes reports, reflecting a decrease when compared to the same period in 2020, during which 1,742 reports were made.
The police noted that all serious crimes except rape, robbery and kidnapping have declined.
The statistics show a 19.8% decrease in murder this year.
A total of 89 persons were murdered as of September 6, 2020, compared with the 111 murders which occurred for the same period in 2020.
Region Nine is the only region which has not seen any murder for the year.
The majority of the murders which occurred this year were of the disorderly type, which numbered 54. For the same period last year, there were 65 disorderly murders.
In addition, five persons were killed execution-style, seven were murdered during the course of robberies, and nine were killed due to unknown circumstances.
Like last year, there have been 14 domestic-related murders so far this year.
In terms of rape, the police noted that a total of 208 reports were made as of September 6 reflecting a 47.5% rise when compared to the 141 reports lodged for the same period last year.
Robbery increased by 21.1%. There was also one report of kidnapping this year.
As it relates to prosecution rate, the police are reporting that all serious crimes except burglary have seen an increase in persons being charged and placed before the courts.
Meanwhile, according to the statistics, Region 4(A), which spans from Cummings Lodge on the East Coast to Agricola on the East Bank of Deme-rara, accounts for most of the serious crimes reports in both periods. However, the number of reports dropped from 669 last year to 401 this year.
Region Five recorded the fewest serious crimes for the year, with 28 reports, down from the 47 recorded last year.
