By: Mama A. Touray
Center for Policy, Research, and Strategic Studies (CepRass) Afro Barometer study on Saturday at its round nine studies revelation on view revealed that 73% of citizens gave negative assessments of the government’s performance on reducing crime.
The fieldwork for Round 9 in the Gambia was conducted between 30 August and 19 September 2022. Fifty-three percent of Men and forty-seven percent of women were involved in the sample collection according to the demography.
Speaking at the study presentation held at the Bakadaji Hotel, Lang Sanyang said “Almost three-fourths (73%) of Gambians give negative assessments of the government’s performance on reducing crime, an increase of 31 percentage points since 2018.”
He added that the rate at which they are reducing crime, 8% of citizens say they are doing it very well, 17% say they are going it fairly well, 13% say fairly badly, and 60% say very badly and he stated that it is a cause for concern.
“In terms of the government’s performance in reducing crime, we are looking at the trend between 2018 and 2022. In terms of fairly badly we are seeing a sharp increase from 42% to 73% percent and in terms of fairly well and very well, we are seeing a reduction from 54% in 2018 to 24% in 2022. That is more than half, people are not happy with the way the government is doing in reducing crime. The government should definitely take this seriously and work harder,” he said.
Mr. Sanyang said, according to the perception of the citizens as to what intervention can be done to improve the performance of the police, 29% of citizens said better salaries, 20% improved training, and 18% say better equipment are key interventions needed by the police to improve security in communities.
He also said the study on safety and security the proportion of Gambians who say they felt unsafe walking in their neighborhoods and feared crime in their homes at least “several times” during the past year has doubled since 2018.
He continued, the study added that poor citizens are more likely to report such feelings of insecurity than their better-off counterparts. And that theft and break-ins (56%), drug or alcohol abuse (19%), and robbery (10%) are the most frequently cited threats to safety.
Sanyang stated that 23% say they feel unsafe walking many times or always, 18% say several times they feel unsafe, 12% say just once or twice and 47% say they never felt unsafe walking.
In terms of fear of crime in the home, he said 14% say they fear crime in the home many times or always, 12% say just several times or always, 16% say just once or twice and 59% say never fear crime at home
“Between 2018 and 2022, we have seen a sharp increase from 21% to 41%. We are talking about 20 point increment, in terms of Gambians feeling safe in their neighborhoods within this period a twenty percent increase when it comes to fear of crime at home from 13% in 2018 to 26% in 2022. That also is a cause for concern.” he explained.
However, among citizens who asked for help from the police during the past year, 42% say it was difficult to get the assistance they needed, and 24% say they had to pay a bribe. And among those who encountered the police in other situations, 19% say they had to pay a bribe to avoid problems.
Sanyang said the study on bribery and corruption revealed that almost half (45%) of citizens say “most” or “all” police officials are corrupt, but 51% say the Office of the Presidency is much more corrupt and 50% say tax officials are much more corrupt than the police officers.
Meanwhile, Sanyang added that 52% of Gambians say they trust the police “somewhat” or “a lot.” The share who expresses no trust at all in the police has climbed by 8 percent (which means in 2018 round seven the police were rated better in terms of trust) points since 2018, to 22%.