Police in spotlight over crime records

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PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL | FILE Vigilance House, Nairobi.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• In a related case, a University of Nairobi’s Chiromo campus student was robbed of valuables along Riverside Drive and reported the matter at Kileleshwa Police Station. However, the matter was recorded as loss of documents and the officer advised her to take a police abstract.

By Nation Reporter
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Most crimes committed in the country are under-reported, making police crime statistics unreliable, investigations reveal.

The available data does not give the true picture of the prevalence of serious crimes such as rape, murder and robberies, making it difficult to formulate effective crime control policies.

The statistics, which give the nature, extent and trends in crime rates, are either under-reported, suppressed, or distorted.

Police do not record all crimes reported to them, and have also been accused of using statistics selectively to suggest improvements in security. There are also instances where even if they are reported, the police have powers to dispose of the cases.

Investigations by the Nation show that police statistics are just but a tip of the iceberg. A station commander in one of the police stations in Nairobi who sought anonymity told the Nation that most robbery cases were reported as pick-pocketing or theft.

“We are under pressure to contain crime in our respective jurisdictions and to avoid reprimand, we sometimes fail to report them or just change them to less serious crimes,” the officer said.

In a related case, a University of Nairobi’s Chiromo campus student was robbed of valuables along Riverside Drive and reported the matter at Kileleshwa Police Station. However, the matter was recorded as loss of documents and the officer advised her to take a police abstract.

On October 24, Buru Buru police reported to crime records at the headquarters that they had shot two men and recovered two guns.

An Occurrence Book (OB) entry number OB75/24/10/2013, also stated the same. However, one of the men, Mr Anderson Odhiambo, was a Cooperative Bank employee and the gun did not belong to him.

According to the statistics, 33,538 cases were reported from January to May last year and 30,285 cases in the same period this year. Interestingly, no officer solicited a bribe nor was any tourist bag stolen.