Serious crimes are up by 5% over the last year, according to the police, who say that while murders are down armed robbery has increased.
Official statistics released yesterday by the Guyana Police Force showed that the total number of reports of serious crimes made between January 1 and October 31, 2013 was 3,350 compared to 3,201 for the same period in 2012.
Murder, armed robbery, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping are categorised as serious crimes.
Up to the end of October, there were 108 murders recorded for the year, down from the 115 murders recorded for the same period last year. This represents a 6% decrease.
Of the 108 murders that have been committed this year, police said 47 were listed in the “disorderly” category, 20 were committed during armed robberies—a 233% increase over the six recorded for last year—two were execution type, and 16 were in the “domestic” category, with the remaining 23 others listed as “undetermined.”
Overall armed robberies have increased by 7%, with 921 reports compared to 858 for the same period in 2012, police also reported. The increase includes a 16% rise in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms. At the same time, there has been a 6% decrease in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, statistics from the traffic department show that there continued to be a decrease in road fatalities at the end of October in comparison to the same period in 2012. Up to the end of last month, there were 85 fatalities from 79 accidents compared to 90 fatalities from 83 accidents during 2012.
The majorities of road fatalities have been pedestrians, 29 of whom had lost their lives at the end of October. In addition, 14 motorcyclists, 12 pedal cyclists, 12 drivers of motor vehicles, two pillion riders and 16 passengers of motor vehicles also lost their lives, according to police.
Speeding continued to be identified as the major contributing factor to fatal accidents and was listed as the cause of 55 of the 79 fatal accidents recorded at the end of last month. During that time, a total of 72,216 cases have been made against errant motorists, of which 18,810 cases were for speeding.
Police are also reporting that from January to the end of October, there were reductions in other categories of traffic accidents—that is serious, minor and damage.
