Police holds fast to Crime stats; says PSC statement “preposterous”

The Guyana Police Force on Monday responded to the Private Sector Commission’s position on the issue of crime and security in Guyana.

On Friday last, Chairman of the PSC, Eddie Boyer on Friday suggested that the confidence in the police and the government which represents the state is fading.

“We believe deeply that it is felt in the National concern of every citizen over the inability of the state to generally protect our citizens, from widespread gun inspired crimes threaten their wellbeing and safety. We believe that each and every one of our ordinary citizen feels threatened regardless of where they happen to be” the Chairman said.

Responding to his claims on Monday, David Ramnarine who was performing the duties of Commissioner of Police stated that currently, “that’s a preposterous statement”. He added that “it is not a statement that can be supported, people make statements all the time” and implied that the private sector body has an agenda.

The Senior Police Officer then provided crime statistics from the police force to contradict the business community claims. He noted that there have been 119 murders in 2016 as opposed to 149 during the same period in 2015. There were 638 reports of robbery under arms in 2016 as opposed to 670 in 2015.