The Uganda Police Force has accused the Daily Monitor a Uganda private newspaper under the Nation Media Group of reporting wrong information about the recently released Police Annual Crime Report 2024.
The force alleges that the report that the statistics showed violent crimes such as homicides, robberies and rape reducing is utterly false.
The police spokesperson, Rusoke Kituuma elucidated that the report clearly indicates that a total of 4,329 cases of homicides were reported by the end of 2024 compared to 4,248 homicides reported in 2023, giving a 1.9% increase in homicides, while a total of 8,163 cases of robberies were reported to Police in 2024 compared to 7,772 robberies reported in 2023, giving a 5% increase in robberies.
The report similarly, shows a total of 1,667 cases of rape were reported to Police in 2024 compared to 1,577 rapes reported in 2023, giving an increase of 5.7% in rapes.
Kituuma also stressed that Daily Monitor’s presentation gave the impression that no suicides took place in that very year of 2024, which was an obvious lie.
“Our policy prohibits including incidents not legally classified as crimes in official crime reports. To report suicides in a crime report would be a contradiction in terms, given that Ugandan law does not recognize suicide as a criminal offence,” he explained.
He further stressed that Section 188 of Uganda’s Penal Code Act defines murder as the unlawful killing of another person with malice aforethought.
He said that while the Penal Code does not explicitly define suicide as an offence, it does address related acts.
“What is permissible within the law is attempted suicide and suicide pacts, which are criminal offences under Sections 210 and 195, respectively. In 2024, the Police registered and investigated 218 cases of attempted suicide, as detailed in the Police Annual Crime Report,” he added.
On the doubt of the crime statistics by some unit commanders and anonymous sources, Kituuma noted that crime statistics are not estimations; but they reflect actual incidents officially recorded by the police.
He stressed that the Uganda Police Force utilizes a comprehensive crime records management system extending from local police posts to Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) headquarters.
He said each police post, station, and unit is equipped with official data capture tools (police forms/books) that are regularly filed, updated, and submitted to CID Headquarters.
This ensures all crime records from the lowest levels are captured throughout the entire data capture process, enabling the accurate generation of Police Reports.
Consequently, the Daily Monitor’s claim that unit commanders question the statistics, Kituuma said is quite suspicious because the statistics originate from “these very unit commanders, who are responsible for reporting crimes within their jurisdictions”.
“This Daily Monitor article is, therefore, baseless and fabricated, especially considering that credible information and verified statistics were publicly presented during the report’s launch. The article disseminated misleading information, aimed at damaging the reputation of the entire Uganda Police Force,” he noted.
