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How criminals stole Shs800b last year
Police Head of Protocol Jamar Basalirwa (2nd right) and IGP Martins Okoth-Ochola (2nd left) during the launch of the police annual crime report at Police headquarters in Kampala. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- The IGP Martins Okoth-Ochola attributes the increase in the general crime to the opening up of the economy
- In the 2021 crime report, the statistics about the losses were not included in what the director of Criminal Investigations Tom Magambo, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, attributed to disagreements on how their statisticians arrived at the loss figures. But police resumed publishing the losses due to crime in last year’s crime report, which was released on Wednesday.
Criminals made off with property or money worth Shs859b at the expense of their victims last year, the police report shows.
The police were able to recover only 6.9 percent (Shs59.5b) of the property or money that was stolen in the same period, the Annual Crime Police and Traffic Safety report 2022 released on Wednesday shows.
The amount of money lost in crime last year is as big as the entire police budget (Shs876b) for this financial year.
All offences where criminals made financial benefits have continued to increase.
The Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola attributed the increase in the general crime to the opening up of the economy.
“In 2022, we note that there was an 18 percent increase in the number of crimes reported to police from 196,081 cases reported in 2021 to 231,653 cases mainly due to the full opening of the economy after the Covid-19 lockdown and growing confidence to report crime to police,” IGP Ochola said on Wednesday.
Losses due to crime have been rising over the years and they haven’t been given public attention until in 2021 when this publication reported about them showing the 2020 losses being at 11.7 trillion, which caused discomfort among senior police officers.
In the 2021 crime report, the statistics about the losses were not included in what the director of Criminal Investigations Tom Magambo, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, attributed to disagreements on how their statisticians arrived at the loss figures. But police resumed publishing the losses due to crime in last year’s crime report, which was released on Wednesday.
For instance, theft cases rose from 43,583 reported incidents in 2021 to 61,508 cases in 2022, 41 percent rise, while obtaining money by false pretences grew from 8,634 cases to 10,652 incidents, a 23 percent increase in the same period.
Police statistics show that cases of physical theft of cash, scams online, fraud in the banks and companies are on the rise.
A quarter (Shs224.9b) of the total loss was under the offence of causing financial loss, the report shows. The money was lost in 55 cases that were investigated by the police. The police have been able to recover Shs860m in the same period.
Police records show that only one person was taken to court over causing financial loss in the same period.
The offence that contributed the second highest loss of Shs170b was obtaining money by false pretence.
Of 10,652 incidents of obtaining money by false pretence, less than a quarter of them have been taken to court. Police records show that the State secured 267 convictions. The rest of the cases are either still under inquiry or they were submitted to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The prevalence of cases of obtaining money by false pretence has been attributed to weak penalties. According to the Penal Code Act, most offences of false pretence attract less than five years of jail time on conviction regardless of the amount of money or goods the convicts have stolen.
In the same period, Shs51b cash was stolen while Shs392m bank cash-in-transit was stolen. Bank cash-in-transit used to be a target on highways, but the private security agencies, insurance companies and banks have tightened measures to protect their funds, including procuring armoured bullion vans with tracking devices that transport their money.
Criminals made Shs23b in forgeries and uttering false documents and only Shs9.1m was recovered.
Fraud in banks and corporate companies wasn’t as high last year as it was in previous years. Police recorded 82 cases in which Shs3.1b was lost last year, but the detectives were able to recover Shs2.5b.
Theft of motor vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles left victims with a loss of Shs51.3b. Only 4,088 vehicles (of all categories) were recovered in the same period. Cybercrime cases increased by 10.8 percent leading to the loss of Shs19.2b to the victims. Only Shs16.7m was recovered.
Ready market for stolen items, especially electronics, in Uganda and the neighbouring countries has only encouraged an increase in crime, police spokespersons told this publication last year.
On Wednesday, director for Criminal Investigations Tom Magambo said their plan to reduce crime is in 10 areas, including digitalisation, staffing, skilling, tooling, budget, application of science in investigations, exhibit management, community policing and others.
Most issues will, however, not be addressed in the next financial year due to budget cuts.
