Crime rate down 17 percent in Mulanje

Mulanje Police Station says it registered a 17.3 percent crime reduction rate in the year 2017.

Spokesperson for the station Gresham Ngwira said in an interview on Monday, in the year under review, a total of 1229 cases were registered compared to 1486 cases registered in 2016.

Among the cases that recorded a decrease include robbery with violence, house breaking and murder.

Said Ngwira: “For example, while in 2016 the station registered 31 murder cases, in the year under review only 21 cas-es were registered representing a 32.2 percent decline.”

He attributed the general decrease in crime to good police/community relations, intensified police visibility and im-proved sensitisation among other factors.

However, according to Ngwira, the station registered an increase in defilement cases in 2017.

Last year, 78 cases were registered against 49 cases that were registered in 2016 representing 59.2 percent increase.

“Police take this increase in defilement cases as fruits of crime prevention and awareness meetings being held across the district. This has enabled people to come out and report the cases as opposed to concealing them.

“Therefore, in the long term we expect the cases to continue scaling down,” he said.

Meanwhile, police have pledged to continue putting in place initiatives that helped in the previous year while at the same time improving on its service delivery.

Speaking during an end of year party for Malawi Police at their headquarters in Lilongwe, Inspector General Lexten Kachama said he was proud that police managed to reduce crime rate by 16 percent in 2017.

He attributed the reduction to coordination between the law enforcers and the general public.

Kachama highlighted that there was a general decrease in cases such as murder, robberies and theft of motor vehicle across the country.