Dear Editor,
IT was with utter disgust that I looked at the Kaieteur News cartoon that treated as cow’s dung recent statistics showing that the incidence of serious crimes in Guyana has declined.
The cartoon was obscene, vulgar and in bad taste.

I listened to Vice-President Khemraj Ramjattan, the Minister of Public Security, as he told the National Assembly during the budget debate that the number of crimes in Guyana, though lower than six years ago, is not something about which one could boast.
In my book one criminal act is always one too many. But this does not mean that we must ignore statistics. A look at serious crimes in the 2012-2018 period shows a reduction from 1,401 in 2012 to 965, so far, in 2018.

These crimes comprise robbery, robbery under arms, robbery with violence and robbery with aggravation.

The decline was gradual, but there still remain regular violent crimes, and there is no quick-fix for this situation. What we could hope for though is that criminal acts could be brought down considerably, like the incidence of piracy.

However, with the exception of Barbados, Guyana ranks lowest in crimes per 100,000 in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Kaieteur News certainly has its own editorial agenda to sensationalise crime; but there is no good reason why the good work of crime fighters in Guyana does not qualify, even occasionally, for tabloid recognition. Insulting our minister in the name of satire is unacceptable.

Regards
Dillon Goring