SSP sees a 10% drop in homicides in Goiás.
The number of such incidents fell in practically the entire state in the first two months of 2015, compared to the same period in 2014, with the exception of Goiânia, where there was an increase of 9,3%; considering only the month of February, there were 195 cases throughout the state in 2015, compared to 221 in 2014, representing a decrease of 11,76%; the figures were particularly positive in Aparecida and the surrounding area of the Federal District.
247 - The first two months of 2015 ended with a 10% reduction in the number of homicides in Goiás. According to the Security Observatory of the Public Security Secretariat (SSPGO), there were 45 fewer cases compared to the same period last year. Regarding the rate per 100 inhabitants, a methodology used internationally for analyzing violence and crime indicators, the decrease was 11,23% in the first two months of the year.
February marked the fourth consecutive month of decline in the number of homicides in Goiás. This trend has been observed every month since last November. In February, there were 195 cases throughout the state. In the same month of 2014, there were 221, representing a decrease of 11,76%.
There was also a decrease in cases when comparing February to January, when 202 homicides were recorded. This represents an absolute decrease of 3,47%.
The decrease in homicide records in February occurred in the main regions of the state. The Goiânia Metropolitan Region, for example, recorded 12,2% fewer homicides in the month compared to the same period last year. In the accumulated total for the first two months of 2015, the reduction was 5,56% compared to the first two months of 2014.
The standout in the region was Trindade, with a 25% reduction in homicides compared to February of this year and a 55% reduction in the first two months of the year compared to the same period last year. Aparecida de Goiânia is another municipality in the Metropolitan Region with positive data: the city saw 51,61% fewer homicides in February and 26,32% fewer in the first two months of the year, in absolute numbers.
The area surrounding the Federal District also had a better start to the year than 2014. With 52 cases in February, the region registered a decrease of 30,67% in the month and 24,03% in the two-month period. In the region, the best figures occurred in Valparaíso de Goiás (down 52,38% in the two-month period), Novo Gama (down 50%), and Luziânia (down 44%).
The same trend has been observed in Anápolis. In that municipality, the two-month period saw a 28,5% decrease in the number of homicides. Compared to February of last year, the decrease was 20%. In Goiânia, however, there were 6 more homicides in February compared to the same month last year, and 6 more compared to the first two months of last year.
According to the Secretary of Public Security and Penitentiary Administration, Joaquim Mesquita, Carnival, unlike last year when the extended holiday occurred in March, may have influenced the numbers in the capital, since January had shown stability in the data.
Furthermore, in 2014, February was the month with the lowest number of reported incidents in Goiânia in the last 39 months. Even so, four of the seven Integrated Public Security Areas in the capital saw a reduction during that period. "The directive is for the police to intensify actions in the integrated areas that registered an increase," says Mesquita.