From January to May this year, the citizens’ information gathering program, which has been working with the National Civil Police (PNC) since 2017, received 2,009 reports related to the leading issue.

In second place are 1,164 reports of injuries, 1,119 of homicides, 762 of car theft and robbery, 407 of weapons, 329 of domestic violence, 232 of embezzlement with or without violence in stores, 201 at homes, 190 to pedestrians and 97 sexual assaults.

Drug trafficking and drug dealing are also among the most reported crimes, mainly in the departments of Petén, Izabal, Zacapa, Chiquimula, Jalapa, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango and this capital.

Mario Mérida, former deputy minister of the Interior, discarded that such statistics necessarily reflect an increase in certain crimes, but rather an increase in the population’s confidence in the mechanism in place.

There are crimes that have evidently risen, such as the theft of motorcycles and, consequently, the complaints by the affected owners have increased, said the expert, who was quoted by the local newspaper Prensa Libre.

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