Though serious crimes in Guyana are down by 11% from last year, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) recorded increases in both murders and armed robberies from last year’s corresponding period.
The GPF revealed their statistics for the period of January 1 to October 31, 2014 yesterday which showed that serious crimes saw an 11% drop from the same January to October period last year.
The police force’s statistics also showed that serious crimes for this year so far have been recorded at 3,000; at the end of 2013 there had been 4,204 serious crimes. So far, this year’s figure is the lowest in the last 10 years with the highest figure of 4,572 in 2005.
According to the GPF, 54% of this year’s serious crimes thus far have happened in ‘A’ Division. The second highest figure was recorded at 15% in ‘C’ Division.
The GPF’s records further showed that murders are up by 7% for the same period last year; while in 2013 there were 111 murders from January to October, this year there have been 119 murders thus far.
For the entire 2013, the GPF recorded 155 murders at year-end.
In a presentation, Crime Chief Leslie James added that the majority of the murders committed in 2013 and 2014 were categorized as disorderly; in 2013, there were 60 disorderly murders while for the period of January 1 to October 31, 2014 there were 33 disorderly murders.
Domestic murders were noted as the third leading category and ranked above other categories including robberies and executions.
According to James, 30% of the murders committed in Guyana occurred in ‘A’ Division while ‘F’ Division followed closely at 28%.
“There is a significant … violence existing in our society; that’s a fact,” James said.
“We can reasonably refer to ‘F’ Division as the region which has the gold rush and what we’ve noted from our records is that not only miners are going into ‘F’ Division but also criminals based on the occurrences of these crimes,” the crime chief said.
Meanwhile, armed robberies are also up by 8% from the corresponding period last year; the statistics indicate an increase of 13% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms and a 1% decrease in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.
So far for this year, the GPF has recorded 1,206 cases of gun robberies. At the end of 2013, the force had recorded 1,531 cases. According to James, 64% of gun robberies occurred in ‘A’ Division and happened mostly on the streets with a figure of 374 for this year so far.
The police force’s statistics further showed that gun robberies committed on businesses came in a distant second with 141 occurrences. It was also noted that the majority of robberies occurred during the nights and very early mornings.
Seizures of illegal firearms have so far been lower than last year’s end figure; in 2013 there were 100 seized firearms while there have been 73 seizures this year before October 31.
James attributed the decline to the GPF’s attempts over the years to keep illegal firearms off of the streets.
James also noted that the majority of the weapons seized in 2012 and 2013 originated from Brazil, more than the guns which originated from Venezuela, the USA, and Europe.
“Brazil types of weapons appeared to be the choice of weapons by criminals,” James pointed out. He further expressed the belief that this might have something to do with the proximity of Brazil to Guyana. “As we know we share a common border with Brazil.
We also note that Brazilian miners cross our borders, some of them illegal, and reasonably we can surmise that those miners may be bringing guns with them to Guyana to protect themselves,” he said before adding, “Somehow those weapons are finding their ways into the city.”
