Why Uganda's 'Falling' Crime Stats Hide a Deeper Problem

Uganda’s 2025 Police Annual Crime Report highlights a 10.2% decline in reported cases, from 218,715 in 2024 to 196,405. Of these, 115,301 went to the Director of Public Prosecutions, leading to 79,291 court cases and 24,899 convictions.

Police credit this to intelligence-led operations, sub-county deployments, technology like CCTV and forensics, community policing, and better prosecutions. Drops occurred in fraud, narcotics, domestic violence, and sexual offences, though land disputes and fatal road crashes rose.

Yet, public scepticism persists amid visible crimes like phone thefts and gang assaults. The key issue: statistics reflect only ‘reported’ cases from station diaries, ignoring the unreported majority.

Reasons for underreporting include deep distrust in police, rooted in historical corruption exposed in past inquiries. Officers sometimes collude with suspects for bribes, leaving complainants vulnerable to reprisals.

Court backlogs burden victims with costs and time, pushing them toward mob justice or silence. Police face logistics shortages—vehicles, fuel, airtime—hampering investigations, even for trackable stolen phones.

With just 38,000 officers for 45 million people (1:1,200 ratio), stretched thin by VIP protections, frontline policing suffers. Rural areas rely on elders or bribes to settle matters, especially among the 16.1% in extreme poverty.

Cultural taboos deter reporting: men avoid admitting family assaults, women hush up defilements by relatives. Greed-driven scams and security force crimes—like police shootings—go undocumented due to impunity.

Fewer reports make stats look rosy, fooling the public into thinking crime is solved, while risks mount.

Source: Daily Monitor