By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
NATIONAL
Uganda People’s Congress – UPC has asked police to come up with refined strategies for crime prevention and reduction in the country.
On Wednesday last week, police released annual crime report (ACR) inwhich they reported an increase of 35,572 (18 percent) registered cases in 2022 as compared to 1 percent in 2021. A total of 231,653 cases were reported to police countrywide in 2022 from 196,081 cases in 2021, according to the launched report.
A report indicates a spike in cases like theft, assault, drug trafficking, domestic violence land conflicts, suicide, mob justice and road traffic related offences. UPC argues that the high crime rate causes great concern to communities calling for utmost attention to stop crimes.
Speaking to journalists at their party headquarters – Uganda House Kampala on Wednesday (1st March, 2023), Sharon Oyat Arach the UPC spokesperson said government should allocate funds to the institution of police to support them upgrade its manpower and digitalization of crime
“Police through line ministries should prioritize digitalisation of a crime from the time it is reported to the final stages of court process,” Arach said
According to her, availability of CCTV cameras, use of advanced forensic science,better canine breeds and installation of digital telephone tracking devices will ease investigation processes for police.
She however cautions that tracking of telephones should be done inaccordance with the law to avoid infringements on individual privacy.
Arach appeals to police to double efforts on practice of confidentiality and protection of individuals who feed them with information on the whereabouts of criminals in communities.
Encouraging community policing, Arach says will bridge the gap and tighten the bond of trust between the police and public.
“Criminals live within our communities but, people are reluctant to tip off police of the criminal movements and whereabouts for the fear of their security,” she explained.
On the other hand, UPC says that many of the police officers are acting wierdly demonstrating on citizens who they beat, torture and unlawfully arrest due to frustrations arising from their low standards of living and delayed peanut payments. They called upon government to uplift the morale of police officers by enhancing on their salaries and fringing their benefits.
