Despite Government having passed amendments to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, which now provides for harsher penalties for traffic offences, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has said there has been a recorded seven per cent increase in road fatalities so far for the year 2023.
While addressing the opening of the GPF’s Annual Police Officers’ Conference on Thursday at the Police Officers’ Mess at Eve Leary, Georgetown, acting Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken provided statistics on the state of affairs of crimes in the country. In relation to traffic, while this area continues to be a challenge, he reported that there has been a seven per cent increase in traffic fatalities. This, according to him, represents a 10 per cent decrease from the previous year, 2022.
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) revealed on Wednesday that 50 persons have died on Guyana’s roadways between January 1st and April 24, 2023. Police statistics show that driving under the influence of alcohol and excessive speeding are the leading causes of road accidents in Guyana.
On the other hand, the Police Force’s continuous crime-fighting efforts have yielded an 8.4 per cent decrease in serious crimes, the Top Cop revealed. Again, he did not give any detailed information. Serious crimes include murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, robbery with aggravation, rape, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and human trafficking. The Police ended last year with a 19.5 per cent decrease in serious crimes.
It has been revealed that, for this year, the Police have removed 51 illegal firearms, 604 kilograms of cannabis sativa (marijuana), 928.86 grams of cocaine, and 61.2 grams of ecstasy from the streets.
It has also been revealed that Police ranks continue to find themselves in conflict with the law. This, among other things, Hicken pointed out, continues to fuel a negative Police image among the public.
He disclosed that 21 Police ranks have been charged criminally; and while he did not share the nature of the crimes they are accused of committing, it was recently reported that several Police ranks are before the courts for several offences, including murder, corrupt transaction, conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice, assault causing bodily harm, simple larceny, larceny by a public officer, assault, and trafficking in narcotics.
According to the Commissioner, the Police Force continues to face challenges in negative social media influence, substance abuse, language barriers, gender-based violence, lack of comprehensive structure in terms of response in the mining districts, transnational crimes, cyber threats, narco-trafficking, illegal migration, and mental health issues in relation to crimes.
Hicken, nevertheless, assured that all aspects of the law enforcement agency would be improved to better serve the people. And these include expanding the Safe City programme, strengthening the Police Force’s Forensic Department and crime-fighting posture, increasing fleet management, and improving the Police Community Relations Department.
