NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 8 – The country has recorded a significant decline in crime in the last three months, according to statistics released by Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere on Thursday.
Mr Iteere said incidents in January, February and March had gone down by 18 percent compared to the same period last year.
“Crime has significantly reduced, thanks to the efforts put in place by my officers and the support we continue to receive from the public through the community policing initiative,” the police chief told a meeting with the media in Nairobi.
He said there were 15,469 cases of crime reported in the period under review compared to last year’s 18,877.
In January this year, 6,231 crimes were reported compared to 6,562 last year while February recorded 5,471 contrasted to 5,850 cases during the same period last year.
In March 6,771 cases were reported in comparison to 3,767 for the corresponding period last year.
The statistics are based on reported incidents only, but police said unreported cases are too minimal and cannot make a significant difference in the date they release quarterly or their end-of-year report.
In the statistics released on Thursday, the police chief said carjacking and organised crime were the main challenges facing the law enforcement agencies.
In Nairobi alone, for instance, three to four incidents of carjacking are reported daily.
“That is the main challenge facing us, there are these gangs of criminals who waylay motorists at their gates in residential areas and most of them are armed,” he said and revealed that his department was “strategising to come up with new measures of fighting such crimes.”
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