THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) said on August 14 that there has been an overall decrease of 2% in serious crimes recorded at the end of July 2012, in comparison to last year. Statistics revealed that the total number of reports of serious crimes made by July 31 this year was 2201, compared to 2257 at the end of July last year.
Police reported that some of the offences monitored are murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping.
The record shows that a total of 80 murders were recorded at the end of July 2011, compared with 75 for the similar period this year – a 6% decrease.
Of the 75 murders, 36 were of the disorderly type, four were committed during armed robberies, 15 were domestic related, and four were execution type, while the other 16 are so far undetermined.
Robbery under arms has increased by 22% up to July 2012, with 597 reports in 2012, compared to 489 for the same period in 2011, police said.
The statistics indicate an increase of 14% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms; and a 36% increase in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.