THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) recorded 130 murders for this year, so far, two less than for the same period in 2010, with a recognisably high incidence of disorderly and domestic related killings in both rural and urban areas countrywide. Those in the disorderly category for 2011 number 30 and they resulted from drunken brawls over money, women and other arguments with miners in interior locations being major contributors while 79 were of the domestic type, stemming from infidelity in relationships and abuse in homes.
Against this background, Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud said yesterday that the root causes of these types of murders are not known because no studies were done but there is a pattern in statistics and it has a lot to do with the lack of anger control management and the breakdown of morals.
He added that, given the issues that cause the quarrels which result in fights, there is an obvious weakening of social institutions, such as churches, youth groups etc. 
Persaud said serious crimes, between 1998 and 2011, saw a downward trend but this year has seen a one percent increase to December 12.
He said most murders occurred in ‘A’ Division since there is a high concentration of population, followed by ‘E&F’ Division while burglaries, robberies under arms, robberies with violence and aggravation statistics do not reflect any steep increase.
Persaud added that robberies in the streets, attacks in homes, piracy, break and enter robberies are the most frequent serious crimes in the country but they have seized 114 illegal firearms this year and lot of those are from ‘A’ and ‘E&F’ Divisions.
He pointed out that handguns are more preferred by criminals and originate from Brazil, United States (U.S.) and Europe.