Reply to "Crime Tracker Guyana, since May 2015"

The population at large feels like sitting ducks, with a crime contagion raging through the country, despite the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) continued reports of a significant decrease in criminal activities.

Dr Vishnu Bisram

This is one of several findings of an ongoing opinion poll being conducted by the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) on current issues.
The poll is being conducted by New York-based political scientist, Dr Vishnu Bisram, who has been conducting opinion polls in Guyana, Trinidad and the greater Caribbean region since 1990.
The Police’s claim that crimes are down is of no comfort to the Guyanese population which reported feeling a sense of unease and insecurity.
According to the respondents in the poll, crime is the number one problem facing the nation.
“Many say “people are falling like flies” or “by the wayside” over what is viewed as a rise in murders, robberies, and violent criminal attacks. They also express concern over the increase in drug use. And the business community, in particular, is fearful of the crime situation, saying it has impacted on their business activities; they do not agree with Government figures showing crime on the down side,” Dr Bisram analysed.
He explained that people in general are worried, constantly looking over their shoulders, thinking whether they will be the next victim of a robbery.
The latest survey interviewed 710 registered voters of which 43 per cent were Indians, 30 per cent Africans, 17 per cent Mixed, nine per cent Amerindians and one per cent others at random. The poll’s margin of error is four per cent.
Almost everyone (90 per cent) said crime is the most important problem facing the nation and some 70 per cent said Government measures have not been effective at combating crime.
Many people say a lot of crimes go unreported because of a lack of confidence in the Police Force and their purported slow response to reported criminal acts as well as an extremely low detection rate.
People do not feel that the Police will protect them and are of the view some Police are themselves involved in criminal activities.
Also, because of the socio cultural stigma, certain crimes are not reported.
In a recent VoxPopuli conducted by Guyana Times, persons expressed that they feel unsafe even in their own homes because of the worrying crime situation.
On the other hand, the GPF recently announced that serious crime deceased by 21 per