Uganda has registered an increase in petty crime in the first six months of this year, while serious crime, particularly murder, robberies and defilement went down, police statistics have showed.
The statistics quoted by the state owned New Vision on Wednesday indicated that a total of 32,887 cases of general theft were registered countrywide between January and June 2007, compared to 61,517 for the whole of last year.
Property lost due to criminal activity amounted to 61 billion shillings (38.1 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, whereas it stood at 116 billion shillings (72.5 million U.S. dollars) for the whole of 2006.
Motorcycles in particular were targeted. A total of 714 were stolen in 2007, compared to 944 for the whole of last year.
According to the statistics, though petty crime went up, serious crimes went down. A total of 1,270 murder cases were recorded in the first half of this year, compared to 2,696 last year.
Violent robberies also went down with 3,357 cases reported so far this year, compared to 8,167 for the whole of 2006.
Defilement saw the most dramatic fall from 15,385 cases last year to 6,640 cases in the first half of this year.
Burglaries and theft of vehicles reduced. A total of 3,074 burglaries were recorded this year, compared to 8,482 in 2006, while 464 vehicles were reported stolen, compared to 1,206 in 2006.
Car theft peaked in the month of May, as stolen vehicles were taken across the border into southern Sudan. In Kampala alone, 52 cars were reported missing. However, the figure dropped sharply in June when the police deployed along the way and at the Sudanese border.
The statistics showed that the sprawling Kampala suburb scored the highest of all police districts in terms of defilement (344 cases), rape (38 cases) and murder other than shooting (44 cases) in the first half of 2007. Katwe, a city suburb was characterized as the most dangerous area in Uganda.
The police expect the trend for all crimes to go down as its new strategy of focusing on categories of crime, intelligence-led investigations and community policing begins to bear fruit.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article