New data from the Suriname Police Corps (KPS) shows a significant long-term decline in most categories of property crime across the past decade, but Minister of Justice and Security Harish Monorath says the country’s overall public safety landscape still falls short of expectations, with rising traffic fatalities, stagnant suicide rates, unaddressed domestic violence and police integrity gaps remaining critical priorities to tackle.
The latest KPS crime trends report, compiled by the Criminal Intelligence Service and covering the period from 2015 through 30 August 2026, documents steady drops in robbery, break-ins, and aggravated theft compared to peak levels recorded roughly 10 years ago. For street robberies, the highest annual volume was logged in 2017 at 1,220 cases, followed by a consistent downward trend: 632 cases in 2023, 554 in 2024, 436 in 2025, and 244 cases recorded in the first eight months of 2026. A similar pattern holds for commercial robberies, which fell from a 2016 peak of 392 cases to 180 full-year cases in 2025 and 118 cases by the end of August 2026.
Residential break-ins have also dropped sharply, from 4,205 cases in 2016 to 1,982 in 2025, with 1,269 cases reported by late August this year. Aggravated theft peaked at 4,317 cases in 2017, falling to 2,420 full-year cases in 2025 and 1,377 cases through 30 August 2026.
Homicide trends have been more volatile over the measurement period. The highest annual homicide count was recorded in 2020, when 53 people were killed by violent means. Annual counts then shifted to 32 in 2021, 43 in 2022, 41 in 2023, 30 in 2024, and 32 in 2025, with 12 homicides registered through the end of August 2026. KPS has explicitly noted that the missing person case of Rodney Leysner is not classified as a homicide at this stage, as no definitive conclusion has been reached in the investigation.
The most alarming outlier in the overall crime and safety data is road safety, which has moved sharply in the opposite direction of falling property crime. As of 30 August 2026, 72 traffic-related fatalities have already been recorded – 11 more deaths than the entire 2025 full-year total of 61. Two additional fatal crashes occurred on the Monday following the data cutoff, bringing the 2026 death toll to 74.
Minister Monorath acknowledged that road safety progress has not met his expectations, telling local outlet Starnieuws that ‘road safety is still not developing the way I want it to’. To address the growing crisis, he is pushing for a cross-government whole-chain approach that brings multiple stakeholders beyond the Ministry of Justice and Security to the table. The ministries of Public Works and Spatial Planning, Transport, Communication & Tourism, and the education sector all have key roles to play, a framework aligned with the recently launched Strategic Road Safety Plan 2026-2030 that prioritizes inter-agency collaboration, behavioral change, and consistent enforcement.
Recent road safety data underscores the urgency of action: the Suriname Road Safety Institute reported that by 23 August, 70 traffic fatalities had already occurred, with moped riders accounting for the largest single share of deaths at 24 fatalities.
Domestic violence is another priority area where Monorath says more aggressive action is needed. Long-term trend analysis is not currently possible due to incomplete domestic violence data: KPS warns that records from 2017 onward are incomplete, as not all police precincts have consistently submitted incident reports to the central database.
Monorath has already held discussions with the National Council on Domestic Violence focused on improving complaint registration, building more accurate national statistics, expanding victim support, and resolving bottlenecks in police response. Beyond these public safety challenges, the minister also highlighted police organizational strengthening, increased resourcing, and improving internal integrity as core ongoing priorities. He noted that the police service needs structural strengthening to operate effectively, which requires additional public funding.
Police integrity has emerged as a high-profile issue in Suriname in recent months, after multiple high-profile scandals involving sitting officers eroded public trust in the force. Monorath has previously acknowledged that these incidents damage public confidence, and has announced a package of reforms focused on enhanced training, mentorship programs, stronger leadership, and expanded integrity monitoring across the service.