Crime increased by 8.4 percent in 2022; survey

The total number of crimes reported to the police for the period between 2018 to 2022 increased by 8.4 per cent to 88,083 in 2022. According to the National Economic Survey 2023, offences against persons, stealing and offences against morality jointly accounted for more than half of total crimes reported to the police in 2022.

The highest increase in crimes reported to the police was recorded for theft of stock (36.4 percent) followed by traffic offences (28.5 percent) and robbery (27.2 percent). Similarly, the number of offences reported for stealing increased by 25.1 per cent to 14,718 in 2022.

Some of the cases reported according to the survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) are homicide (3,056), robbery (3125), stealing (14718), dangerous drugs (6526), economic crimes (4367) and offences involving police officers (77).

Nairobi City, Kiambu and Meru command stations accounted for the highest proportion of crimes reported at 9.7, 8.9 and 6.5 per cent, 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 percent), Marsabit (25.3 percent), Siaya (20.1 percent) and Nandi (19.0 percent).

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.

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.

Defilement accounted for 76.8 per cent of the number of persons reported to have committed crimes against morality followed by rape at 11.5 per cent. Persons reported to have committed bestiality increased from 14 in 2021 to 22 in 2022, while those involved in indecent assault increased by 19.0 per cent to 375 in 2022.

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 at 78.0 per cent in 2022.
The total number of persons reported to have committed crimes in the category of robbery, breakings and theft increased from 25,721 in 2021 to 29,948 in 2022.