Police reveal status of crime in Kenya

The National Police Service has recorded a drop in the number of offences committed by officers, road fatalities and homicides.

According to the Quarterly Crime Report covering January to April this year, robberies, trafficking of lethal drugs, offences against morality and offences against persons recorded an increase compared to the same period last year.

The Police received an increase of 1,448 crime cases between January and March, marking a seven per cent rise from the 19,815 incidents reported to the police last year.

Head of Communications Charles Owino said that the country had recorded an increase in morality crimes such as abortion, theft, corruption and economic crimes, posing a challenge to officers.

ELECTIONS
January recorded the highest number of crimes being reported, 7,534. This is a 15 per cent increase from the previous year’s 6,552.

February and March recorded 7,001 and 6,728 crimes respectively; with February representing an increase of 572 and March a decrease of 106 in reported crimes.

"The reason for this trend is that after the election period, when the youth were no longer receiving handouts from the politicians, they engaged in criminal activities to sustain their lifestyles.

"However, as the year progresses and police devise ways of dealing with them or countering their activities, the crimes start to decrease," Mr Owino said.

DRUG TRAFFICKING
Mr Owino said the seizure of drugs and drug traffickers was as a result of a change of strategy, where the drugs were mostly recovered at the ports of entry.

"This is an important strategy that ensures that access to drugs is eradicated. It is a positive for us," Mr Owino said during the release of the statistics at the National Police headquarters in Nairobi.

The report showed that Nairobi recorded the largest crime increase by 257, followed by Western and Northeastern regions, which recorded 241 and 28 increases compared to last year.

Other counties with high crime cases are Kiambu, Meru, Nakuru, Bungoma and Machakos; Mandera, Tana River, Wajir, Lamu, Garissa and Samburu had the lowest cases.

CATTLE RUSTLING
The index however ranked Lamu as the county with the highest rate of crime.

The county had 115 cases of crime per 100,000 persons. It was followed by Meru, Isiolo and Kiambu, which recorded 112, 102 and 100 respectively in a similar population.

Wajir, Mandera, Garissa and Kakamega had the least rate of crime.

And although a total of 2,483 cases of cattle rustling were reported in the three months under review, Mr Owino said that the incidents were a 17 per cent reduction from those recorded last year.

FIREARMS

Six people died while 24 others were injured during incidents of cattle rustling. And a total of 769 stolen livestock were recovered.

The country also experienced a decrease in traffic offences, student unrest, cross-border incidents and illegal foreigners.

In the year under review, a total of 29 illegal firearms were recovered and 13 others surrendered in 15 counties.

Similarly, a total of 1,689 ammunition were recovered with 37 empty cartridges and 35 bullet heads.