Serious crime down 22% over last three months - Benn

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has recorded a 21.9% reduction in serious crimes over the past three months.

This disclosure was made by Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn, in his written reply to a question asked by Opposition Member Geeta ChandanEdmond about the monitoring and evaluation of the performance of police officers.

The answer was circulated during yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly.

Chandan-Edmond also asked to be provided with the methods used by the Ministry in monitoring and evaluating police performance as it relates to crime solving.

In response, Benn outlined that the Ministry consist of units, namely Crime Observatory and statistical and research which are tasked with examining, tracking and assessing, both directly and independently, the performance and data of the force.

“A strategic monitoring and evaluation unit evaluates achievements against key performance indicators. Computer surveys and mapping are employed in the assessments,” Benn said.

Meanwhile, in a separate question, Chandan–Edmond enquired about the number of serious crimes that were investigated, number of persons prosecuted and the number of convictions, broken down by the various types of crimes reported from of August 2nd, 2020 to present.

For the period, Benn said a total of 373 serious crimes were investigated and 267 prosecutions were undertaken.

As it relates to the convictions, he said that this remains a “work in process” pending judicial reviews.

BERGAMO, Italy, (Reuters) Ferland Mendy grabbed a late winner to earn lacklustre Real Madrid a 1-0 win over 10-man Atalanta in yesterday’s Champions League last-16 first leg.

Real’s task appeared to have been made much easier after Atalanta’s Remo Freuler was sent off in the 17th minute for denying Mendy a goalscoring opportunity.

Against the 10 men, however, Zinedine Zidane’s side, who were missing several high-profile players through injury, struggled to break down the hosts, and Real had only one shot on target in the rest of the first half.

Atalanta continued to defend doggedly after the interval, but Mendy’s superb strike in the 86th minute gave the record 13-times European champions a slender lead to take into the second leg.

“We didn’t play well, but the important thing is the result, Zidane said.

“We couldn’t find any space. If you have to play against 10 men it is hard to play without space. But for us it’s very important to have found the goal, especially an away goal.”

Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta shocked everyone by getting to the quarter-finals last year in their first season in Europe’s premier competition, especially given they played all their home games at the San Siro in Milan while their own stadium was being re-developed.

Now back at their ground, Atalanta’s first Champions League knockout match in Bergamo got off to a bad start when the referee showed no hesitation in sending Freuler off for bringing down Mendy when he was through on goal.

Without their top goalscorer Karim Benzema and forwards Eden Hazard and Rodrygo through injury, however, Real lacked potency up front.

Half chances for Luka Modric and Vinicius Jr. were all they could come up with as the game entered the latter stages.

It was going to take something special to breach the well-organised home side and full back Mendy provided it with a 25-metre strike, his first Champions League goal.

Luka Doncic drained a 3-pointer to snap a tie with onetenth of a second remaining in the fourth quarter, lifting the host Dallas Mavericks to a 110-107 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.

After making a 3-pointer to stake Dallas to a 107-105 lead with 15.8 seconds left, Doncic provided the fireworks following Jaylen Brown’s tying layup. Doncic calmly sank a high-arcing attempt for the eventual winning shot.

Doncic collected 31 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Mavericks, who posted their sixth win in seven outings despite playing without Kristaps Porzingis (back) and Maxi Kleber (ankle).

Brown scored 29 points, fellow All-Star Game reserve Jayson Tatum added 28 and Kemba Walker had 21 for the Celtics, who have lost seven of their past 10 games.

Brooklyn Nets 127 - Sacramento Kings 118

James Harden posted another triple-double as Brooklyn finished strong down the stretch and extended their winning streak to seven games with a victory over skidding Sacramento in New York.

Harden finished with 29 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds for his sixth triple-double as a Net. Bruce Brown added a career-high 29 points on 11 of 13 from the field. Kyrie Irving added 21 points as the Nets again played without Kevin Durant (strained hamstring).

De’Aaron Fox scored 27 points to lead the Kings, who have lost twice to Brooklyn in their eight-game skid. Rookie Tyrese Haliburton added 23 as Sacramento shot 51.7 percent and hit 15 3-pointers.

Philadelphia 76ers 109 - Toronto Raptors 102

Tobias Harris had 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as visiting Philadelphia held on to defeat Toronto at Tampa.

Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid added 18 points and 12 rebounds to end a streak of 14 straight games in which he had scored at least 25 points. Furkan Korkmaz scored 16 of his season-best 19 points in the first quarter for the 76ers, who ended a string of 16 straight regular-season road losses to Toronto.

Norman Powell had 24 points for the Raptors and Pascal Siakam added 22.

Cleveland Cavaliers 112 - Atlanta Hawks 111

Lamar Stevens’ slam dunk with 4.1 seconds left lifted Cleveland to a win over visiting Atlanta, ending the Cavaliers’ 10-game losing streak.

Collin Sexton finished with 29 points and five assists for Cleveland. Darius Garland added 17 points and eight assists, and rookie Dylan Windler set career highs with 15 points and five 3-point baskets.

The Hawks got 28 points and 12 assists from Trae Young, 22 points from Kevin Huerter and 12 points and 16 rebounds from Clint Capela. Young sank just 9 of 27 field-goal attempts.

Golden State Warriors 114 - New York Knicks 106

Stephen Curry ended a scoring drought by sinking a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:38 to play and visiting Golden State survived a slow-starting fourth quarter to hold off New York.

Curry scored 37 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 19 for Golden State. The Warriors won for the first time in three games on their current trip and avoided their first threegame losing streak of the season.

Julius Randle, who learned just before the opening tip that he’d been named to his first NBA All-Star team, had a team-high 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for

New York. The Knicks lost for just the second time in the past six games.

Detroit Pistons 105 - Orlando Magic 93

Rookie Saben Lee had a career-high 21 points and four assists off the bench, and the visiting Pistons avenged a loss to Orlando two nights earlier.

Lee didn’t have a made 3-pointer prior to Tuesday but knocked down all three of his attempts against the Magic. Josh Jackson had 18 points and seven rebounds and Jerami Grant supplied 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Pistons snapped a three-game losing streak.

Nikola Vucevic led the Magic with 20 points but that was 17 points fewer than he had on Sunday in Orlando’s 105-96 victory. Evan Fournier had 14 points and Terrence Ross tossed in 13 with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Milwaukee Bucks 139 - Minnesota Timberwolves 112

Giannis Antetokounmpo flirted with a triple-double on Tuesday night, finishing with 37 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as Milwaukee romped past visiting Minnesota.

Antetokounmpo was one of seven Bucks who scored in double figures as Milwaukee won its third consecutive game. The Timberwolves lost their fifth consecutive game and first under new coach Chris Finch, who was hired on Sunday night after the team fired Ryan Saunders.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Malik Beasley each finished with 26 points for Minnesota. But most of that damage came in the first half as the Bucks poured it on, shooting 53.5 percent (53-for-99) for the game and 20-for-42 (47.6 percent) from 3-point range.

AHMEDABAD, India, (Reuters) - India renamed the world’s largest cricket stadium after Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, a move that drew immediate praise and criticism.

The name change to the Narendra Modi Stadium was unveiled at the 132,000-seat venue formerly known as Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat, where India are playing England in the third match of a four-game test series.

A gifted orator and consummate populist, Modi is by far the most popular and recognisable politician in India, and won a second term in power with an increased majority for the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019.

But Modi has also been accused of centralising power in the world’s biggest democracy.

“World’s largest stadium dedicated to the world’s largest personality!,” Priti Gandhi, a BJP spokeswoman, said in a tweet.

Others said the decision reflected a cult of personality surrounding Modi.

“The people of Gujarat will not bear this insult to Sardar Patel,” said Hardik Patel, president of the opposition Congress party in the state.

Patel was India’s first interior minister, long revered for his tough approach on national issues. Authorities have named the larger complex surrounding the stadium after him.

Dedicating sports stadiums to former prime ministers is common in India, but renaming such a high-profile venue for a sitting leader is rare.

Many of India’s public institutions and projects have been named after members of the Congress’ Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that governed India for decades and which Modi’s party long criticised as the dominance of one family.

“Both the BJP and Congress are busy perpetuating political branding,” Sanjay Jha, a former Congress official and political commentator, said.