City dwellers report more crime cases than rural folks, report shows

Nairobi, Kiambu, Meru, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kisii, Machakos, and Murang’a command police stations jointly accounted for 41.9 per cent of all the crimes reported in 2019. 

The number of crime incidents reported to police last year increased by 5.8 per cent from 88,268 in 2018 to 93,411 in 2019, according to the Economic Survey 2020 report. In 2017, the survey had 77,992 cases recorded, 76,986 in 2016 and 72,490 in 2015.

Nandi police command station recorded the highest increase of incidents at 67.3 per cent in crimes reported to police from 1,235 in 2018 to 2,066 in 2019.

Other command stations that recorded significant increases in reported crimes were Tana River (43.8), Kisii (29.9) and Trans Nzoia (26.5). In 2019, Wajir police command station recorded a 46.4 per cent decrease in the number of crimes reported while Narok police command station registered a decline of 28.1 per cent. 

The report shows homicides rose by 4.0 per cent to 2,971 in 2019 from 2,856 in 2018 compared to 2,774 in 2017, with 2,751 in 2016. Crimes against morality rose by 11.3 per cent to 8,051 in 2019 from 7,233 in 2018, 5,492 in 2017 and 6,228 in 2016.

Crimes on stealing reported to the police rose by 8.6 per cent to 13,954 in 2019 compared to 12,845 in 2018, while reported economic crimes grew by 16.7 per cent in the review period to 4,786 from 4,100 in 2018.

Rape incidents hit 950 in 2019 from 921 in 2018 and 784 in 2017, while defilement reduced to 2,397 in 2019 from 4,767 in 2018 and 3,487 in 2017. There were 71 cases of abduction last year as compared to 52 of 2018 and 138 of 2017, while incest cases dropped to 261 in 2019 from 308 in 2018 and 287 in 2017.

Cases of murder increased to 1,527 in 2019 from 1,312 in 2018, up to 1,435 in 2017 and 1,439 in 2016. Suicide stood at 196 cases in 2019 from 177 in 2018 and 421 in 2017.

Nairobi City command station, which accounted for 8.8 per cent of all crimes reported, was the highest, followed by Kiambu and Meru command stations at 7.1 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively, in 2019.

In 2019, police repossessed 884 illegally held firearms compared to 116 in 2018. A total 104 firearms were surrendered in 2019 compared to 19 surrendered in 2018. 

During the year under review, the number of murder cases registered at the High Court increased to 1,171 in 2019. Murder convictions decreased to 243 in the same period.

Prison population decreased by 7.8 per cent to 77,347 in 2019 with 1,285 children jailed.