— acting police commissioner

ACTING Police Commissioner David Ramnarine has described the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) 2017 performance as satisfactory when compared to previous years, as the force recorded a significant decrease in crime.
Commissioner Ramnarine made this statement during the GPF’s end-of-year press conference on Friday, at Eve Leary, Georgetown.

“The Guyana Police has delivered, could we have done more? Certainly. As you would know, they were distractions, from within and from outside. Nevertheless, the force stood strong and tall and delivered a satisfactory performance as of the 31, December 2017 when compared with previous performances,” the acting commissioner said.
He noted that the force recorded an 11 per cent decrease in serious crimes in 2017 when compared to 2016. Ramnarine noted that prior to the last two weeks in 2017, this rate was at 10 per cent.

The acting commissioner explained that “… to achieve that additional one per cent decrease to make it 11 per cent on December 31, quite a lot of work had to be done. So, the citizens of this country should feel satisfied that while they were entitled to their entertainment, the ranks of the Guyana Police Force gave an extra effort to reduce crime further.”

Robbery under arms involving firearms saw a 13 per cent decrease with 665 reports in 2017, compared to 769 in 2016, a reduction of 104 reports, while robbery under arms involving other instruments saw 278 reports in 2017, as against 306 in 2016 — a 10 per cent decrease. Break and enter and larceny also saw a significant reduction from 1,275 in 2016 to 1,049 in 2017, an 18 per cent reduction.

However, robbery under arms (carjacking) spiked during the last quarter of 2017, with 47 cases reported, as against 35 cases in 2016 and 41 cases in 2015. Of the 47 cases, 16 were Toyota Premio motor cars and eight were Toyota Allion.
“We have not taken comfort in that fact there were just a few more reports in 2017.We deem it to be unacceptable…” the commissioner stressed.

According to Ramnarine, in December 2017 following good investigative work by the Police Force, “two persons were investigated, one with three counts involving robbery under arms,where vehicles were stolen and we currently have a case between ‘C’ Division and ‘D’ Division with one person that is under investigation.”

The acting commissioner stressed that the GPF has observed that these carjackings appear to have some sort “criminal industrialised concept.”
There were 116 reports of murder in 2017 as against 142 in 2016, a decrease of 18 per cent. What is significant, according to Ramnarine, is of the 116 cases of murder, 88 were solved (77 per cent).

“This percentage has been very high for the Guyana Police Force and for this country for quite a long while and we believe this ranks among the highest solve or clear-up rate anywhere in recent times.”
Over the past few years, the high increase in piracy has been very alarming.
Acting Commissioner Ramnarine reported that 2017 saw nine such reports, of which seven occurred between August and September. The other two cases were reported following that period.

Ramnarine said the force believes that “with the interdiction of a gang of nine, including two foreigners in Region One, where two boats were seized, firearms and narcotics, would have put a dent in piracy. Also, the police floating base which is well equipped.”  He also acknowledged the assistance of the coast guard in that area.

Trafficking in Persons (TIP) was also reduced by some 271 per cent. This was due to increased awareness and provision and access to much-needed training, and the robust implementation and execution of the TIP National Action plan. (DPI)