Annual Crime Report 2022:Theft Most Committed Offence With 61,508

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martins Okoth Ochola on Wednesday released the Annual Crime Report for 2022 showing an 18 per cent increase in crime from the previous year 2021.

Article 212 of the Constitution allows police as a form of accountability to the population to present an Annual Crime Report.

According to the report, 231,653 cases were reported compared to 2021 where 196,081 cases were reported.

The IGP Okoth Ochola Martins has attributed the rise in crime to the full opening of the economy after the Covid-19 lock-down and growing confidence to report crime to Police.

Okoth says that 61,508 cases of theft were reported , making it the highest committed crime in 2022, representing 26.5% of the total reported cases. As compared to 43,583 cases reported in 2021, there was a 41% increase of Theft cases registered country wide. Theft cases were mainly motivated by economic gain.

A total of 6,936 cases of Mobile Phone Thefts were reported to Police in 2022 compared to 4,143 cases
reported in 2021, giving a 67.4% increase in Mobile Phone Thefts. Most of these cases occurred as a result
of snatching from unsuspicious members of the public.

Kampala Metropolitan North registered the highest number of Mobile Phone Thefts (936 cases), followed by KMP South with 843 cases, Rwizi with 607 cases, KMP East with 588 cases and Albertine with 355 cases.

Old Kampala Division registered the highest number of Mobile Phone Thefts (268 cases), followed by
Rwampara with 254 cases, Katwe Police Division with 243 cases, CPS Kampala with 189 cases, Kawempe
with 169 cases, Luuka with 164 cases, Bukwo with 160 cases, Kabalagala with 158 cases and Nansana Police
Division.

The highest number of Thefts of Motor Vehicles were registered in Katwe Police Division with 83 cases, followed by CPS Kampala and Kawempe Police Divisions with 51 cases each, Old Kampala with 47 cases, Kasangati and Kira Road with 45 cases each, Mukono, Nansana and Nsangi Police Divisions with 35 cases.

A total of 5,675 cases of Theft of Motorcycles were reported to Police in the period under review compared to
4,308 cases reported in 2021, giving an increase of 31.7% Motorcycle Thefts in the whole year. A total of
5,509 Motorcycles were reported stolen, out of which, 2,381 were recovered, 515 were found abandoned,
while 2,614 were not recovered.

KMP North registered the highest number of Motorcycle Thefts (864 cases), followed by KMP South with 548
cases, KMP East with 484 cases, Albertine with 303 cases, Greater Masaka and North Kyoga with 270 cases

A total of 1,091 cases of Theft of Motor Vehicles were reported to Police in 2022 compared to 942 cases
reported in 2021, giving a 15.8% increase in Theft of Motor Vehicles in the year. A total of 2,656 Motor
Vehicles were reported stolen, out of which, 1,687 were recovered, 141 were found abandoned, while 827
were not recovered.

KMP North registered the highest number of Motor Vehicles Thefts (240 cases), followed by KMP South with
231 cases, KMP East with 157 cases, Greater Masaka with 44 cases, Savannah, Kiira and Rwizi with 43 cases.

A total of 15,353 animals were stolen, out of which 5,661 animals, were recovered while 9,692 animals were
not recovered by the end of year 2022. Rwizi region registered the highest number of Cattle Stealing in 2022 (809 cases), followed by North Kyoga with 718 cases, East Kyoga with 563 cases, Albertine with 547 cases and Rwenzori West with 531 cases.

Theft was followed by Assaults with 32,041 cases, Domestic violence with 17,698 , Sex-related Offences,13,826 breakings, 13,489 child-related Offences, 13,202 economic and corruption crimes,  10,652 obtaining by false pretences, 10,345  Threatening Violence, 8,960 defilement, 8,418 criminal trespass, 7,838 malicious damage to property, 6,854 robberies, 4,043 homicide,  2,797  narcotics, 1,747 arson (General) ,988 escape from lawful custody, 561 land-related cases, 140 political/ Media offences and 15 terrorism cases.

He says child-related offences had the biggest leap in cases committed, rising by 55% from 8681 to 13489. Robbery also shot up in 2022 by 30% from 5275 to 6854 and homicides by 3% to 4043 from 3912 in 2021.

Use of Narcotics also registered a sharp rise of 69 percent from 1668 cases in 2021 to 2,797 in 2022, breaking rose from 10,148 to 13,846 cases in 2022.

However, sexual related offenses went down by 10% to 14693 from the 16373 reported the 2022, political and media related cases also declined by 82 percent, defilement went down by 38 percent, terrorism declined by 29 percent.

In the security docket a total of 32 security attacks were registered in 2022, of these,38 guns were stolen, 705 ammunition taken. However, 30 guns  and 545 ammunition were recovered.

Meanwhile, a total of 20.344 accidents were registered in 2022 with 3,901 being fatal while 10,776 were serious and 5,712 minor. These accidents left 4,534 people dead and 15,222 with serious injuries and 1,712 others with minor injuries.

According to the report in every 10 accidents recorded, 22 people died . The accidents have been largely attributed to reckless driving.

In a related development, there was a 35% increase in common traffic offences registered by the Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety countrywide from 336,722 cases in 2021 to 456,993 cases in 2022. As a result, the number of road traffic crashes increased by 16.9% from 17,443 in 2021 to 20,394 in 2022 where
3,901 crashes were fatal, 10,776 were serious while 5,717 were minor by nature.

Out of the total cases reported to Police in 2022, 68,405 cases were taken to Court, 26,749 cases were not proceeded with, while 136,499 cases were still under inquiry. This was an improvement compared to 2021 where 65,008 cases were taken to Court, 60,095 cases not proceeded with and 70,978 cases under inquiries. This reflects a great improvement in cases taken to Court by 5.2% as