The Guyana Police Force says it has recorded a 19% decrease in serious crimes at the end of April this year relative to the same period last year.
According to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) there was a 9% reduction in reports of murder; a 9% decrease in gun-related robberies; an 8% decrease in armed robberies where other instruments were used by the perpetrators; a 38% decrease in robberies with violence; a 38% decrease in robberies with aggravation; an 18% decrease in rape; and a 22% decrease in break and enter and larceny.
The reports made in April 2016 represent a 32% decrease against those reported in March this year.
The slowing down of the crime rates, the Force says is based on several initiatives taken by the Government and the Guyana Police Force to manage the crime situation.
Highlights of these are capacity building in the Criminal Investigation Department that is now manifested in perpetrators of high profile crimes being arrested within two to three days of their occurrence.
That situation coupled with the social crime prevention programme and our anti-crime patrol systems as well as Government policy initiatives are developing the public trust and reducing the fear of crime in the Guyanese society, the Police noted.
Partnership programmes with civil society organisations and collaboration with local and foreign law enforcement agencies have also served to strengthen the capacity of the Guyana Police Force.
The continuous exposure of ranks to training both locally and internationally has served to develop the Force’s ability to deliver at the frontline level, at management level and at leadership level the GPF added.
At the moment twelve (12) Assistant Superintendents of the Police Force are attached to the Dade County Police, Miami, for a period of three weeks. This training is likely to expose them to a First World approach on designing tactics and delivering on frontline functions.
Further, all the Police Divisional Detective Officers and their second-in-command along with all the Officers at the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters were trained by trainers developed by the Justice Education Society (JES) of Canada in Major Crimes Case Management and Investigation.
Sixty (60) new recruits have recently graduated from the Felix Austin Police College and this adds to the 287 who graduated in February this year.
Unfortunately, the same successes were not seen in the area of Traffic Management. We have recorded 44 road fatalities at the end of April this year, which is 9 more for the same period last year. While there was a reduction in serious accidents, there have been increases in minor and damage accidents.
The Guyana Police Force has charged 25,118 persons with traffic offences so far this year. This includes 9,140 for speeding and 696 for driving under the influence.
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