In first quarter of 2007…Murders down by 50 percent
… armed robberies, 18%, rape, 29%
Kaieteur News
April 5, 2007
Police officials are reporting a 50 percent drop in the murder rate and a significant decrease in other serious crimes for the first three months of this year.
According to police statistics, between January and March 4, 2007, there were 20 recorded murders, 196 robberies in which firearms were used, and 29 reported cases of rape.
In contrast, there were 40 reported murders, 239 robberies in which firearms were used, and 40 reported cases of rape for the same period in 2006.
“Contrary to some media reports, murders have decreased by 50 percent, armed robberies by 18 percent and rape by 29 percent,” a police official told Kaieteur News yesterday.
Police officials say that the drop in serious crimes may be due to the death or capture of some of the significant players in the crime wave, which began in 2002, and is only now showing signs of abating.
“There have also been additional patrols, especially during preparation for Cricket World Cup (CWC),” a source said.
“We have also been targeting some groups such as the (suspected) trunkers, and that has sent a signal that we are serious.”
Perhaps nowhere has the drop in serous crimes been more noticeable than in the area of execution-style killings.
Between January and March 4, 2007, three people were gunned down execution style.
The victims were Riverview baker, Andrew Kissoon, who was slain on Middle Road, La Penitence; Constable Micah Cort, 27, of Amsville Housing Scheme, New Amsterdam, who was killed at a Carib Soca Monarch competition at New Amsterdam, Berbice; and Orlanzo Edwards, an ex-policeman, who was shot dead on March 18 at Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.
In contrast, between January and March 18, 2006, ten people were murdered execution-style.
The victims included television personality Ronald Waddell, who was gunned down outside his Subryanville home on January 30; taxi driver Christopher St. Hill, called ‘Ninety', whose bullet-riddled body was found in his car at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara on February 5, and eight Eccles and Agricola residents, who were slaughtered on February 26 by a small army of heavily-armed gunmen.