Crime down by 14% …cops say public trust high
ON THE back of a 14% decrease in serious crimes, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) disclosed on Monday that public trust in the organisation has increased tremendously.It has been pointed out that not only are the police getting more tips, but they are getting more accurate information and overwhelming support from witnesses to process cases in a shorter space of time.
The statistics for murder have decreased by 5% in the first quarter of the year, while incidents of robbery-under-arms have also dipped by 10%.
In a statement announcing crime statistics for the first quarter of 2016, the police said they employed a number of initiatives in contemporary times, and those have resulted in a decrease in serious crimes.
“Our implementation of social problem-solving strategies such as the Social Crime Prevention Programmes and the strong partnership we have forged with civil society are yielding dividends in public trust and the development of a stronger social fabric in the communities within Guyana”, The GPF said.
According to the GPF, one way in which public trust has manifested itself is illustrated in the investigations of high profile crimes, in that not only is the Police Force getting more information, “but, more importantly, we are getting accurate information, and the Force has also managed to get overwhelming support from witnesses to process cases in a shorter space of time.”
The GPF has said that this desirable state of affairs can be credited to support from the public, coupled with capacity building within the Criminal Investigation Department — such as training in the Major Case Management Investigation Model, Crime Scene Processing, and Forensic Video Analysis from the Justice Educational System (JES); besides training in the areas of Advanced Crime Fighting with the use of Information Technology, and Advanced Fingerprint Science, which were also offered to investigators by the Government of India.
Additionally, ranks from the CID were exposed to Advanced Fingerprint Training and Crime Scene Investigation which were organised by the United States Embassy. The French Government also provided to intelligence operatives Intelligence Gathering training in the form of Surveillance Techniques. The investigators also benefited from Advanced Narcotics Investigation training and International Collaboration to Combat Financial Crimes, which were offered by the Russian Government, just to name a few.
Further, the CID has received additional human resource deployment, which has contributed to a higher quality of criminal investigations.
Piracy
In the area of sea piracy, the Force said, resuscitation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Piracy, coupled with the Inter-Agency Maritime Surveillance Programme, has led to a number of initiatives which have impacted positively in the fight against piracy. There was no report of piracy for the first quarter of 2016.
The police said that the deployment of Mounted Patrols in Region 9 has positively impacted on the smuggling and cattle rustling activities at the border, to the extent that cattle rustlers, in changing their modus operandi, are putting themselves at increased risk of being arrested and prosecuted. Seven such persons were arrested and charged between the period January and March 2016.
Touching on the security situation in ‘F’ Division, the improved police inter-agency relationships in the entire division have resulted to improve delivery of service to that large geographical area of Guyana, resulting in a 44 % decreased in serious crimes for the first quarter.
“For the first quarter of the year, murder has decreased by 25%; robbery-under-arms in which firearms were used by the perpetrators has decreased by 100%; rape has decreased by 21%, and break-and-enter and larceny by 71%. There were no reports for the remaining serious crimes, except for robbery-with-violence, which recorded the same number for both years,” the police have stated.
Accountability
In the area of accountability, the police said, enhancement of its accountability systems, such as the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the Office of Audit and Inspections (OAI), along with establishment of the Divisional Based Management Information Units (DBMIU), which provide a weekly analysis of Crime and Traffic situations to the divisional commanders, are seeing not only an improved level of professionalism within the Guyana Police Force, but also a scientific level of improvement from divisional commanders.
“Finally, like our planning, preparations and deployment that yielded an incident-free Local Government Elections, the Guyana Police Force has adopted a similar posture of planning and preparation for the celebrations for Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary. Additionally, the communities we serve can look forward (to enjoying) more positive engagements with the Guyana Police Force”, the GPF has said.
COMPARATIVE FIGURES OF SERIOUS CRIMES FOR THE PERIOD
1st JANUARY TO 31st MARCH, 2015/2016
| SER
# |
OFFENCES |
2015 |
2016 |
%INCREASE/ DECREASE |
| 1. |
MURDER | 42 | 40 | -5% |
| 2. |
ROBBERY | 11 | 14 | +27% |
| 3. |
ROBBERY UNDER ARMS (FIRE ARMS USED) | 147 | 133 | -10% |
| 4. | ROBBERY UNDER ARMS
(OTHER INSTRUMENTS USED) | 84 | 83 | -1% |
| 5. |
ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE | 32 | 25 | -22% |
| 6. |
ROBBERY WITH AGGRAVATION | 23 | 20 | -13% |
| 7. | LARCENY FROM PERSON | 61 | 32 | -48% |
| 8. |
RAPE | 83 | 70 | -16% |
| 9. |
BURGLARY | 68 | 59 | -13% |
| 10. |
BREAK AND ENTER AND LARCENY | 412 | 349 | -15% |
| 11. |
PIRACY | 0 | 0 | – |
| 12. |
KIDNAPPING | 0 | 0 | – |
| TOTAL
| 963 | 825 | -14% | |
