…says serious crimes down by 5%, rape increased by 10%
The Guyana Police Force has reported a five per cent decrease in serious crimes at the end of May 2017, when compared to the corresponding period last year.
This reduction was attributed to the decrease in murders, which the Police said were down by 27 per cent. A total of 47 cases were recorded during that period, with the highest of 17 recorded in A Division (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara).
Of these cases, four were execution-type killings, two were committed during the course of robberies, seven were disorderly deaths, three were listed as unknown, while one case was listed under the “other” category.
B Division (Berbice) recorded nine murders, of which three were committed during robberies, four were domestic related and two were disorderly deaths.
In C Division (East Coast Demerara), there were three murder cases – one each in the robbery, domestic and disorderly categories. There were five murder cases in D Division (West Demerara), one of which was domestic related and the others disorderly deaths.
E Division (Linden-Kwakwani) only had one murder and it was domestic related. The second highest number of murders occurred in F Division (Lethem/Interior Locations), where 12 cases were recorded – two happened during robberies, two were domestic related and eight were disorderly. No murder cases were recorded in G Division (Essequibo Islands-Essequibo Coast).
The Police also reported a three per cent decrease in armed robbery where firearms were used, which amounted to a total of 239 cases, and a one per cent reduction in robbery under arms where instruments other than firearms were used, which amounted to 137. This is compared to a combined total of 384 armed robberies recorded in the two categories over the same period last year.
However, there was a whopping 60 per cent increase in robbery with violence and larceny from the person, with 67 and 77 cases recorded respectively, while robbery with aggravation was up by 10 per cent with 33 cases. On the other hand, 94 cases of burglary reflect a decline of one per cent, while break and enter and larceny dipped by 21 per cent to 449 cases.
Additionally, a total of 123 rape cases were recorded – a 10 per cent increase – by the end of May.
During that month, a total of 64 illegal firearms were also taken off the streets, compared to 29 for the corresponding period last year. These included 39 pistols, eight revolvers, nine shotguns and eight rifles.
Twenty-seven of these firearms were found in A Division, five in B Division, seven in C Division, five in D Division, one in E Division and 19 found in F Division. There was no firearm seizure in G Division during this time.
As it relates to traffic, fatal accidents were reduced to 29.3 per cent by the end of May. During this period, a total of 44 fatalities were recorded, compared to 62 fatalities recorded for the same period last year, representing a decrease of 29 per cent.
In addition, there was also a 75 per cent decrease in deaths of children on the roadways.
The Police also reported that serious, minor and ‘damage’ accidents have declined by 16.4 per cent, 32 per cent and 36.3 per cent respectively.
With regard to traffic violations, some 28,822 cases were made out from January to May.
Of this, 7475 were for speeding; 1402 for breach of conditions of road service licence/music; 1040 for Driving Under the Influence of alcohol; 732 for using cellphone while driving; 664 for breach of traffic light signals and 646 for tinted motor vehicles.
