Robbery, burglary cases on the rise ahead of festive season- Police

There is an increase in the number of robbery, burglary and petty theft cases with police warning that the situation is likely to worsen during the festive season.
An average of three robbery cases, four house break-ins and 34 petty thefts involving pick pocketing, snatching of handbags and phones have been reported in the last one month.
This shows an increase from one case of robbery and five cases weekly and 10 cases of petty thefts recorded each day in September and October 2018.
Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson predicts that the situation is likely to worsen during the festive season based on the previous experience.

"The cases we are recording are mainly robberies, burglaries and petty cases on the street. From our experience, these cases just keep increasing during the festive season," Mr Owoyesigyire said.
Police has thus placed the public especially in the city centre and surrounding areas on high alert.
This included stepping up vigilance in homes as most people leave for the villages, city center and trading centers. Mr Owoyesigyire says people going to the village need to secure their homes.

“As we are doing all these operations, we still call upon the public to be vigilant at all times in their places of residences and work. Never to move alone in the night. And when you're moving in the night, make sure you have some identification document with you. And when you're moving around town in your vehicle, make sure your doors are closed and property close to where you can monitor them," added Mr Owoyesigyire.
On Sunday, Ms Harriet Nazziwa, a trader in Busega lost Shs500,000 in downtown Kampala as she walked to Kikuubo to purchase merchandise for her shop.

Ms Nazziwa, who was still in shock, told URN in a low tone how she realized her money was gone.
"It was in my handbag and when it reached time to pay for the things I had selected, I checked for the money where I had placed it but it had been exchanged with folded papers," she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"They must have removed it while I was passing through those streets full of people. But at least they left my phone," she added.
While police has increased its patrol during the night to help deter robbers, nothing has been done to stop petty crime incidents.
Starting last month, police co-opted soldiers to strengthen night patrols in most suburbs.