Nairobi, Kiambu, Meru in focus as crimes increase
By Zadock.Aangira, May 5, 2023The total number of crimes reported to the police increased from 81,272 cases in 2021 to 88,083 in 2022, representing an 8.4 percent increase.
Nairobi, Kiambu and Meru command stations accounted for the highest proportion of crimes reported at 9.7, 8.9 and 6.5 per cent, respectively.
Most of the offences were committed by male expect bigamy, infanticide, procuring abortion and concealing birth. Of the 21 cases of bigamy reported, three were committed by male while 18 by females.
According to the Economic Survey 2023, the highest number of cases reported in the last four years was in 2019 where a total of 93,411 cases were reported.
The highest increase in crimes reported to the police was recorded for theft of stock with 2,679 cases representing a 36.4 percent increase, traffic offences with 158 cases representing a 28.5 percent increase and robbery with 3,125 cases representing a 27.2 percent increase.
Similarly, the number of offences reported for stealing increased by 25.1 per cent to 14,718 in 2022. The survey indicates that other offences against persons, stealing and offences against morality jointly accounted for more than half of total crimes reported to the police in 2022.
KNBS statistics
Some of the cases reported according to the survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) are homicide (3,056), robbery (3,125), stealing (14,718), dangerous drugs (6,526), economic crimes (4,367) and offences involving police officers (77).
The total number of persons reported to have committed homicides declined by 8.6 per cent to 2,491 in 2022.
Murder accounted for the largest share of homicides (1,942 cases) at 78.0 per cent in 2022. Of the 1,942 persons who committed murder, 1,744 were male while 198 were female
The decline was recorded in all categories except crimes associated with concealing births. The number of persons reported to the police as having committed crimes against morality declined by 14.8 per cent to 7,199 in 2022. Generally, there was a decrease in both rape and defilement cases
Defilement accounted for 76.8 per cent of the number reported to have committed crimes against morality followed by rape at 11.5 per cent. Of the 827 persons who committed rape, 35 were female while another 115 of the 5,530 persons involved in defilement were also female.
There was a decrease in persons reported to have committed bestiality increased while those involved in indecent assault increased by 19.0 per cent to 375 in 2022.
The survey however indicates that there was a marked reduction in bigamy cases, from 99 in 2021 to 21 in 2022.
Highest proportions
Nairobi City, Kiambu and Meru command stations accounted for the highest proportion of crimes reported with 8,519; 7825 and 5,672 reported cases respectively.
Samburu, Isiolo, Kiambu and Kajiado command stations also recorded significant increases in crimes during the review period. Notable declines were however, recorded in crimes reported to the police in Kakamega (33.4 per cent), Marsabit (25.3 per cent), Siaya (20.1 per cent) and Nandi (19.0 per cent).
Gender crimes
The number of persons reported to have committed crimes increased by 4.4 per cent to 87,858 in 2022. During the review period, the number of crimes committed by males increased by 2.3 per cent to 70,383 while crimes committed by females increased by 13.6 per cent to 17,475.
The total number of persons reported to have committed crime in the category of robbery, breakings and theft increased from 25,721 in 2021 to 29,948 in 2022.
Within this category, persons reported to have committed theft of stock, stealing and robbery increased by 28, 21.4 and 15.1 per cent, respectively. Cases of theft by servants however, declined by 12.5 per cent to 1,702 in 2022.
In 2022, police recovered 235 illegally held firearms compared to 98 firearms recovered in 2021. The number of firearms surrendered increased to 375 in 2022 compared to 16 firearms surrendered in 2021.
Police also recovered 3,879 rounds of ammunition in 2022 down from 8,225 recovered in 2021. There was however a decline in the quantity of dangerous drugs seized from 13,080kg in 2021 to 5,850kg in 2022.