Although there were increases in murders and armed robberies for the first month of the year, the Guyana Police Force says there was an overall drop in serious crime, which it credited in part to improved networking among the Joint Services.
Apart from murder and armed robbery, serious crimes include robbery with violence, robbery with aggravation, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape, and kidnapping.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Guyana Police Force said that it recorded a 6% decrease in serious crimes for January in comparison to the same period in 2015.
According to the police force, a number of factors are responsible, including the higher level of networking and activities of the Joint Services under “Operation Dragnet,” which is a massive countrywide anti-crime and counter-terrorism operation that was launched last December, along with capacity building of the force under the five-point strategy to deal with crime that was outlined by President David Granger. On the latter point, it noted that there has been an increase in manpower and training in the Criminal Investigation Department and the increased deployment of ranks in the Police “F” Division. The force also credited the decline in serious crimes to intelligence-led policing and improved cooperation from the public.
At the same time, the force reported that there were 14 murders recorded at the end of January this year, in comparison to 13 murders at the end of January last year. It noted that of the 14 murders recorded, five were committed during robberies, three were domestic-related and six were of the disorderly type.
The force added that “diligent investigations” have led to a number of persons being arrested and charged in eight of the 14 murders.
There was also an increase in armed robberies recorded for January this year, according to force, which reported 79 such attacks, compared with 75 for last year. Of the armed robberies, the statistics showed a decrease of 13% in the number of those involving the use of guns, while there was a 50% increase in the number of armed robberies where instruments other than guns were used by the perpetrators.
The police force also said there was an increase in the number of reported cases of rape and a decrease in the number reported break and enter and larceny and burglary cases.
There were 26 reports at the end of January this year, compared to 25 for the same period last year, it noted, while it said break and enter and larceny and burglary have shown an overall decrease of 8%.
