Theft, domestic violence top 2021 police annual crime report again

Thefts, common assaults and domestic violence have once again topped police’s annual crime report for the year 2021.

According to the report released on Wednesday, there were 43583 cases of theft, 29317 for common assaults and 17533 for domestic violence reported to police, indicating an increase from the number registered the previous year in 2020.

In the year 2020, 41,950 cases of theft, 24,799 for common assault and 17,664 cases for domestic violence were registered in 2019.

Coming number one, two and three respectively, theft , common assaults and domestic violence  have maintained the positions they have held for the past two consecutive years in the annual police crime report.

“Theft cases were mainly motivated by economic gain. By the end of the year, 19017 cases had been taken to court , 6459 cases secured convictions , 96 cases were acquitted, 1181 cases were dismissed  and 11281 pending court,” the report says.

The report indicated that sex related offences like rape and defilement came fourth  with 16373 cases reported in 2021, a rise from the 16144 cases registered the previous year, whereas economic crimes, threatening violence and breakings followed in that order.

Whereas  generally, in the previous report it was indicated crimes had dropped by 9% in the year 2020,  the latest report by police has indicated that a slight  increase in crimes  2021 by 0.1% from 195,931 in 2020 to 196,081.

The report has indicated that in 2021, most of the crimes at 51%  were committed in rural areas, with 45% committed in urban centres, whereas a small number was committed along highways.

Distribution

The report indicates that Kampala Metropolitan North registered the highest number of cases of theft in the country, with 3362 cases reported in 2021.

KMP North is in charge of Kawempe, Wandegeya, Old Kampala, Wakiso , Kasangati and Kakiri Police divisions and respective police stations.

The report also indicates that KMP North was followed by Rwizi region in Western Uganda in thefts whereas Kidepo region in Karamoja registered the least number of theft cases.

The report shows there was specifically an increase in the theft of motorcycles by 7.0% with 4308 cases reported in 2021.

Domestic violence

The report indicates that 17533 cases of domestic violence were reported in 2021, a reduction by 0.74% from the 17664 reported in 2020.

The report indicates domestic cases were mainly caused by disputes over family property, failure to provide for families, drug and alcohol abuse and infidelity.

The police annual crime report shows that by December, 2021, 1640 cases were taken to court, 464 of which secured convictions, 14 cases acquitted and 105 cases dismissed.

According to the report, of the 17533 victims of domestic violence,12877 were females,  3103 males and the rest were children.

Domestic violence was highest in the seven districts of Hoima, Kibale, Kiryandongo, Kakumiro, Kagadi, Buliisa and Masindi that make up Albertine Police region with 1796 cases reported, followed by Aswa with 1663 cases whereas Kigezi and Elgon had the least number of domestic violence cases reported in 2021.

Speaking during the lunch of the report, the police CID director, AIGP Tom Magambo said going forward; the force will try to put in place efforts to manage the crimes.

“There is an ongoing effort to have electronic case tracking systems and this will help us solve a number of issues including managing crimes. We also want to have centralized database to support our investigations,”Magambo said.

He noted that to do this ably, they will bring together the National Identification and Registration Authority(NIRA), vehicle and passport databases to come up with one database.

“If we succeed at that, we shall move substantially to investigate and produce suspects before courts of law in the required time. We are also working at digitizing records to ease retrieval.”