THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) has reported that serious crimes, including but not limited to murder, rape, burglary, robbery under arms and larceny has decreased by 20 per cent for the period of January 1, 2021 to September 6, 2021, when compared to the same time period last year.

There was a 349 difference in the number of serious crimes recorded in 2021 and 2020 as 1742 serious crimes were recorded from January 1, 2020 to September 6, 2020 while 1,393 were recorded in the same time period for 2021, across the 12 police divisions across Guyana.

Murder saw a 18.8 per cent decrease from 111 in 2020 to 89 in 2021; robbery under arms a 34.6 per cent decrease from 628 in 2020 to 411 in 2021; robbery with aggravation, a 53.8 per cent decrease from 39 in 2020 to 18 in 2021.

Larceny from person decreased some 50 per cent from 90 in 2020 to 45 in 2021; robbery with violence saw a 13.3 per cent decrease from 60 in 2020 to 52 in 2021 and burglary a 34 per cent decrease from 106 in 2020 to 68 in 2020.

There was one kidnapping in 2021, as compared to none in 2020 for the time period while there was a 21.1 per cent increase in robbery from 19 in 2020 to 23 in 2021 and there was a 47.5 per cent increase in rape cases from 141 in 2020 to 208 in 2021. These statistics are provided by the Guyana Police Force.

The number of persons charged for these offences which constitute serious crimes has increased with the exception of burglary which saw a 40 per cent decrease for the time period from 20 persons being charged in 2020 to 12 being charged in 2021.

Some 72 persons were charged with murder, 78 with rape, 130 with robbery under arms, 13 with robbery with aggravation, 127 with break and enter and larceny, 29 with larceny from person, 20 with robbery with violence and six with robbery.

In terms of narcotics, 93.5 acres of cannabis fields were destroyed between January 1, 2021 to September 6, 2021 as compared to the 39 acres destroyed for the same time period in 2020 and police seized 157 kilogrammes of cannabis for the time period in 2021 as compared to 515 seized in 2020 while they seized 536 kilograms of cocaine in 2021compared to 468.4 grams in 2020 and 52.1 grams ecstasy when compared to 54 grams in 2020.