Get to the bottom of increasing crime rate

The police crime report for 2017 released on Wednesday, shows a spike in crime by 3.3 percentage points; a trend that is not just statistical, but has been felt within the communities with an increase in the reported cases of violent crimes, assassinations, abductions and kidnaps in 2017.
Also remarkable was the jump by 52 percentage points in theft cases.

It would be surprising if the police report had indicated otherwise because the situation on the street is that crime is ever present and has come to be more expected than not. Cases of phone thefts/grabs have become so rampant and the thieves or grabbers so bold that the crime is often almost predictable. There is no shortage of victims, who fall prey to the snatchers, during the rush hour, especially in parts of downtown Kampala.

Although the rate of crime itself is alarming, there is a more worrying statistic behind the crime wave that we should be concerned about. The number of young people - often young men - involved in theft on the streets - is on the rise.
This comes with the associated vices of increased consumption of narcotics and the potential for these youngsters to graduate to more hardcore and violent crimes as they age and their needs for survival multiply and become greater.
Behind these statistics, there are people. As discussions are held and programmes developed on empowering the youth, here is a group that deserves special attention.

The youthful gangs of today will be the violent criminals of tomorrow if nothing is done to prevent more from joining their ranks. Already, the average age of the criminals on the street is becoming lower by the day.
Mere children are now to be feared because of the very real possibility that if you find yourself surrounded in an alley, they are likely to be the knife-wielding goons to relieve you of your valuables.

However, in spite of the dangerous trend, the citizenry appears to have grown accustomed to the young criminals lurking on the street corners. It is only a matter of time before they get bolder and their ambitions grow bigger.
If nothing is done to investigate and get to the bottom of this ever-increasing crimes, the authorities charged with keeping law and order will find themselves in a situation where they are perpetually trailing after the runaway crime rates and the streets and neighbourhoods will be all the worse for it.

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