The Guyana Police Force reported late on Saturday that there were 79 murders committed across Guyana between the January and the end of June for this year and one other murder recorded for the month of July so far. There were 69 murders during the first six months of the year in 2014.

The Force said those murder figures represent part of the 9% increase in serious crimes for 2015 so far. But although there appears to be heightened reporting of criminal offenses, robbery under arms is actually on the decrease.

The Police Force stated added that “at the end of June 2015 robbery under arms overall has decreased by 6% in comparison to the same period in 2014. The statistics indicate a decrease of 9% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms; while the number of armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators is almost similar.”

One of the most worrying figures relate to reported cases of rape. According to the Police Force’s statistics, there has been an increase of 74% in the number of reports of rape with 207 reports at the end of June this year.  For the first six months of the year in 2014, there were 119 reports of cases of rape.

The Police statement said break and enter and larceny and burglary have shown an overall increase of 9% while a total of 61 illegal firearms have been recovered by the police comprising 1 sub-machine gun, 35 pistols, 14 revolvers, 4 shotguns, 6 rifles and 1 pen-gun.

“The Police Force is continuing in its efforts aimed at crime prevention through its police-community partnership programme, along with social crime prevention interventions in the Policing Divisions, with special emphasis on empowering youths”, the statement concluded.

Last week the government announced that it will be putting in place a new comprehensive crime fighting strategy that will go into communities across the country to rid them of criminals and criminal activities. The government has promised that through its new approach, there will be “no sacred cows”.

The new administration has been in office for two months.

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Police Force reports decrease in murders, but increase in robberies and reports of rape Serious crimes up by 10% as Guyana records 117 murders so far for 2015 Murder rate hits 108 for the year as other violent crimes also increase 98 murders recorded so far for the year as robberies decline and cases of rape increase