By: Nyima Sillah
Police have said that crimes in The Gambia have drastically reduced despite recording more than 2000 crimes between the months of January 2021 to May 2021 across the country, whereby, many of which are stealing, breaking and entering.
Speaking to police spokesman Lamin Njie exclusively, he said despite the numbers the country’s security is doing very well in managing crimes in the country.
“Of course, crimes are happening in The Gambia but also the nature of crimes that happen in The Gambia compared to other countries in the sub-region, we (can) say that The Gambia is doing very well in terms of crime management. Because if you look at our crime statistics, majority of cases that we registered or recorded boils down to stealing and under section 252 (of the constitution) and also cases like house breaking which we have been doing very well in reducing to the barest minimum,” he said.
“We recorded about one thousand four hundred and thirty-four (1,434) cases generally across the country. In the second quarter which is April, May, and June we have recorded one thousand, four hundred and twenty-seven (1,427),” he added.
According to him, during the second quarter of their data collection the numbers recorded were reduced, adding that the Gambia Police Force is working very hard in coming up with strategies to reduce the crime rate in the country.
“Many of these cases are minor offenses like domestic violence and related issues so we are saying that the rate of crimes is very manageable in The Gambia. Murder cases in the first quarter we recorded ten but in the second quarter we were able to reduce it to five. So that tells you that significantly we are working on major offenses.
“Accountability is very important for us and this is why they have a professional standard unit and this professional standard unit is responsible for ensuring that police conduct is informative with democratic principles. Informality with human right principles and the rules of law is why we keep advocating to tell the public that if anyone is aggrieved or has to issue a police officer it does not necessarily mean that the police officer is above the law,” he said.
“Perhaps some people might say they don’t know the existence of the office which is why at any platform we sit when these issues are rising, we always let people know that these offices are open for people to go and raise their complaints against police officers and they will be investigated,” he disclosed.
