NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 13- The number of crime cases reported to police in 2020 reduced by 25.4 percent from 93,411 in 2019 to 69,645. There were 88,268 crimes in 2018, 77,992 in 2017 and 76,986 in 2016.
The Economic Survey for 2020 says offences against morality increased from 8,051 in 2019 to 9,153 in 2020 while cases involving stealing went down by 37.6 percent from 13,954 in 2019 to 8,709 in 2020.
The reduction in the number of offences is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic containment measures.
The restriction and curfews also led to the reduction of crimes committed as well as reporting to the police.
There were 174 cases of suicide reported in 2020 as compared to 196 in 2019, 302 in 2018, 421 in 2017, and 302 in 2016. The majority of the victims were male.
There were 1,781 cases of murder in 2020 as compared to 1,527 in 2019, 2,333 in 2018, 1,435 in 2017 and 1,439.
Rape cases increased to 973 in 2020 as compared to the 950 that were reported in 2019, 921 in 2018, 784 in 2017, and 923 in 2016 while defilement cases increased to 6,801 in 2020 from 5,397 in 2019, 4,767 in 2018, 3,487 in 2017 and 4,512 in 2016.
The report says assault cases stood at 13,139 in 2020 from 16,304 in 2019, 16,088 in 2018, 13,609 in 2017 and 14,559 in 2016.
Abduction cases stood at 70 in 2020 from 71 in 2019, 52 in 2018, 138 in 2017, and 53 in 2016.
Homicides increased by 4.7 percent from 2,971 recorded in 2019 to 3,111 in 2020. There were 2,856 cases of homicide in 2018, 2,774 in 2017, and 2,751 in 2016.
Robbery cases stood at 2,384 in 2020 as compared to 2,858 in 2019, 2,935 in 2018 and 2,713 in 2017.
All police command stations recorded declines in reported crimes except Lamu, Taita Taveta, Garissa, Kisumu, and Samburu. Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Machakos, Meru, Kisii, Kisumu, and Mombasa command police stations jointly accounted for 40.1 percent of all the crimes reported in 2020.
Kakamega police command station recorded the highest decline of 53.4 percent in crimes reported to the police from 2,621 in 2019 to 1,221 in 2020.
Other command stations that recorded significant declines in reported crimes were Nandi, Murang’a, Kericho, Makueni, and Kajiado at 44.3, 36.7, 36.3, 35.9, and 34.0 percent, respectively.
There were slight increases in crimes reported in Kisumu from 2,188 in 2019 to 2,390 in 2020 while Lamu and Samburu increased from 339 and 363 to 380 each in the same period.
During the same period, the prison population declined by 60.7 percent to 86,119 in 2020 with the number of convicted and un-convicted prisoners decreasing by 62.1 percent and 60.0 percent to 29,306 and 56,813 respectively in 2020.
The number of offenders serving probation sentences declined by 58.9 percent from 11,515 in 2019 to 4,730 in 2020 while that of offenders under community service and those serving aftercare decreased from 17,067 and 560 in 2019 to 15,666 and 92 respectively in 2020.
This is due to the 2017 case order, which was meant to review the sentences of offenders serving death sentences or life imprisonment to definite terms, which resulted in early releases.
Nairobi recorded the highest number of cases, which accounted for 8.4 percent followed by Kiambu and Meru command stations at 6.3 percent and 6.0 percent respectively,
The number of persons reported to the police to have committed offenses declined by 21.0 percent to 65,083 in 2020. The number of male and female offenders decreased by 19.6 percent and 27.1 percent, respectively.
The number of offenders reported to have committed homicides went up by 11.3 percent to 2,494 in 2020 out of which persons reported to have committed murder and manslaughter accounted for the highest share of 75.3 percent.
There was a general decrease in the number of cases reported against child protection, from 175,087 cases in 2019 to 146,881 cases in 2020.
Most notably, was a decrease in cases of children in need of registration at 44.9 percent and children in conflict with the law at 42.4 percent in 2020.
This could be attributed to the work-from-home directive that led to the closure of offices for the most part of the year during the period under review.
However, there were significant increases in cases such as child trafficking, child pregnancy, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), physical abuse, and cases of internally displaced children which increased from 2,329; 735; 74; 2,189 and 67 cases, in 2019 to 2,523; 1,122; 139; 3,884 and 205 respectively in 2020.
Police repossessed 167 illegally held firearms in 2020 compared to 884 in 2019. Similarly, 69 firearms were surrendered in 2020 compared to 160 in 2019 while 3,878 rounds of ammunition were recovered in 2020 down from 14,086 rounds in 2019.
The amount of dangerous drugs seized increased to 10,909 kilograms in 2020 from 6,533 kilograms in 2019.
The number of reports forwarded by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for investigations decreased by 36.2 percent to 2,221 in the year 2019/20.
There were 163 files in 2019/20 forwarded by the EACC to the ODPP with a recommendation to prosecute representing a 30.3 percent decline, and out of which 41 files were accepted.
Also, during the same period, ODPP accepted 20 files that were recommended for closure while 56 files were returned to the EACC for further investigations. The proportion of reports awaiting action by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decreased from 21.8 percent in 2018/19 to 17.8 percent in 2019/20.
The EACC traced public assets worth Sh25.3 billion and recovered others worth Sh12.1 billion in 2019/2020. The commission also averted loss of assets worth Sh10.0 billion during the same period.
The number of cases filed by various courts declined by 30.3 percent to 337,510 in 2019/20. Similarly, cases disposed of decreased by 38.2 percent to 289,728 in 2019/20 while pending cases increased by 8.2 percent to 633,866 in 2019/20.
The report said the number of passports issued in 2020 decreased by 51.0 percent to 219,090 while the number of registered foreign nationals decreased by 29.7 percent to 19,034.
The number of work permits issued decreased by 34.7 percent to 5,851 while the renewed work permits increased by 8.5 percent to 11,395 in 2020.
The decline was attributed to reduced demand for travel documents due to travel restrictions imposed to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The population of refugees and asylum seekers went up by 3.1 percent to 504,854 in 2020 where the child and adult refugee population increased marginally from 267,908 and 221,839 in 2019 to 270,245 and 234,609, respectively, in 2020.
The number of Persons with Disabilities who were registered by the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) decreased by 16.3 percent from 45,411 in 2018/19 to 38,010 in 2019/20.
This was partly attributed to fewer medical assessments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. presents the number of crimes reported to the police from 2016 to 2020.
In 2020, police repossessed 167 illegally held firearms compared to 884 repossessed in 2019. A total of 69 firearms were surrendered in 2020 compared to 160 surrendered in 2019.
Police recovered 3,878 rounds of ammunition in 2020 down from 14,086 rounds of ammunition recovered in 2019. The amount of dangerous drugs seized increased to 10,909 kilograms in 2020 from 6,533 kilograms in 2019.
There was a decline of 21.0 percent in the number of persons reported to the police to have committed offences from 82,398 in 2019 to 65,083 in 2020.
During the review period, the number of male and female offenders decreased by 19.6 percent and 27.1 percent respectively.
Nairobi City County accounted for the highest number of persons reported to have committed crimes at 7.6 percent in 2020 followed by Kiambu, Nakuru, and Kisii counties at 5.2, 5.1, and 4.7 percent, respectively.
The highest increase in the number of persons reported to have committed crime was recorded in Kitui County from 943 persons in 2019 to 1,382 persons in 2020.
Other stations that recorded increases in the number of persons who committed crimes included Samburu, Siaya, Taita Taveta, Isiolo, and Nakuru.
On the contrary, Nairobi City County had the highest decrease in the number of persons reported to have committed crime from 8,210 in 2019 and 4,918 reported in 2020.
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