The murder toll this year has been significantly reduced. This is according to Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum, who also noted that the force has solved a majority of crimes committed this year. He made these remarks yesterday during the launch of the Guyana Police Force Christmas Policing Plan.
Among the successes of the force was the capture and recovery of stolen items from the Kaieteur News Heist, The Giftland Mall robbery and highly publicized gold heist. A number of murders were also solved this year according to the Crime Chief.
A staggering 108 murders have been recorded thus far for the year but this is still the lowest recorded over a decade. In 2021, there were a total of 126 murders committed. In 2020 there were a total of 133 murders reported.
Overall, there was a 19% decrease in serious crimes for the period of January 1 to November 13, when compared to the same period last year. This represents a major reduction in crime when compared to previous years.
The figures from this year show that there were 331 less serious crimes committed when compared to 2021. Breaking and Entering saw a 23 percent reduction for the year 2022 as compared to the previous year.
Blanhum said, “We also saw a reduction in the number of reports for robberies. We see that there were 1,022 fewer robberies than in the year 2013. This also shows a massive decrease within the last couple of years.”
Meanwhile, the force managed to take a number of firearms off the streets. Blanhum said the efforts of detectives and officers were major contributing factors in the firearms seizures.
A total of 68 illegal firearms were seized by the Police Force this year. Revolvers, accounting for the most common type of firearms recovered.
