221 704 crimes reported for Q1 2024

Audrey Galawu

A total of 221,704 offences were documented during the first quarter of 2024, marking an increase of 108 cases from the 221,596 offences reported in the same period of 2023.

The national crime rate, according to the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency, stood at 1,460.6 crimes per 100,000 individuals, slightly higher than the 1,459.9 crimes per 100,000 individuals recorded in the previous quarter of 2023.

Offences related to public safety and state security were the most prevalent, totaling 87,834 cases at a rate of 578.7 crimes per 100,000 people.

Among these offences were 87,557 non-injurious traffic violations, 201 incidents involving weapons, explosives, and other hazardous materials, 61 crimes against computer systems, and 15 offences against state security.

Offences against property amounted to 53,975 cases, resulting in a crime rate of 355.6.

Within this category, theft offences accounted for 38,042 cases, burglary for 11,661 cases, property damage for 3,808 cases, robbery for 3,319 cases, other property-related offences for 442 cases, and intellectual property offences for 22 cases.

Acts against public order, authority, and state regulations totaled 13,121 offences, with 6,046 offences falling under the "Other acts against public order, authority, and provisions of the State"category, translating to a crime rate of 39.8 per 100,000 people.

In this category, 3,500 offences were related to public order behavioral standards, 2,005 offences were contrary to public revenue or regulatory provisions, 949 offences were against the justice system, 561 offences were related to migration, and 60 offences were against public order sexual standards.

Fraud, deception, and corruption offences amounted to 3,599 cases, resulting in a crime rate of 23.7 per 100,000 individuals. Within the fraud category, there were 3,455 cases of fraud, 83 cases of corruption, 59 cases of forgery/counterfeiting, and 2 cases involving the proceeds of crime.

Crimes leading to death or intended to cause death totaled 921, with a crime rate of 6.1. Of these offenses, 327 were non-intentional homicides, 301 were attempted intentional homicides, 266 were intentional homicides, and 27 were illegal feticides.

Injurious acts of a sexual nature resulted in 3,563 offences, equating to a crime rate of 23.5 per 100,000 individuals. Among these, 3,562 cases of sexual violence were recorded during the period under review.

Additionally, 7,261 criminal acts classified elsewhere, 3,319 acts against property involving violence or threats against a person, and 657 acts against the natural environment were documented.