Serious crime down by 14% in 1st quarter – Police

– plain robbery up by 27%

Although the Guyana Police Force has recorded a 14 per cent decrease in serious crime, plain robbery has increased by a whopping 27 per cent.
In a released issued by the Guyana Police Force for the period January 1 to March 31, 2016, it stated that 14 robberies were committed where the perpetrators did not use any weapons.
The statistics also proved that 40 murders were committed up to end of March when compared to the same period last year with a five per cent decrease.
There were 133 cases of robberies where the perpetrators used firearms when compared to 147 during the same period in 2015. There was a one, 22 and 13 percent reduction in Robbery where other instruments other than firearms were used, robbery with violence and robbery with aggravation, respectively.
With respect to larceny from the person, the police recorded a 48 per cent decrease with 32 cased being reported at the end of March when compared to 62 for the same period last year. Another offence that saw a dip was that of rape, with a 16 per cent decrease with 70 cases reported.
In addition, there was a 13 per cent decrease in burglary with 59 cases being investigated when compared to 68 at the end of March 2015. There were 349 cases of break and enter and larceny being reported but saw a decreased of 15 per cent when compared to the same period last year. The police also confirmed that there were no reports of piracy and kidnapping up to the end of March 2016.
The police noted that it was due to a number of initiatives the Force have undertaken that led to the decrease in serious crimes.
It stated that the implementation of social problem solving strategies, such as the Social Crime Prevention Programme, and the strong partnership it has forged with civil society, are yielding dividends in public trust and the development of a stronger social fabric in the communities.
The police added that one way in which public trust has manifested itself can be illustrated in the investigations of high profile crimes; in that not only is the Police getting more information, but more importantly, they are getting accurate information, and the Force has also managed to get overwhelming support from witnesses to process cases in a shorter space of time.
This support from the public, coupled with capacity building within the Criminal Investigations Department, such as training in the Major Case Management Investigation Model, Crime Scene Processing and Forensic Video Analysis from the Justice Educational System have all impacted on the successes of the force over the period.
Training in the areas of advanced crime fighting with the use of information technology and advanced fingerprint science were also offered to investigators by the Government of India, the police added.
Additionally, ranks from CID were exposed to advanced fingerprint training and crime scene investigation which were organised by the United States Embassy.
The French Government also provided Intelligence Gathering training in the form of Surveillance Techniques to intelligence operatives. The investigators also benefited from advanced narcotics investigation training and International Collaboration to Combat Financial Crimes which were offered by the Russian Government and many other initiatives.
Further, the CID has received additional human resource which has all contributed to a higher quality of criminal investigations.