The Uganda Police Force have found itself in a defensive posture following a Daily Monitor article scrutinizing their 2024 Annual Crime Report. While the newspaper leveled several allegations, the most contentious point centered on the report’s handling of suicide statistics.
The police were quick to address the Daily Monitor’s assertion that their report deliberately omitted suicides, thereby misleading the public. “Their presentation gave the impression that we were asserting no suicides took place in 2024,” police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke clarified. “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 added.
The police emphasized that their mandate is to report on criminal activity as defined by Ugandan law. They cited Section 188 of the Penal Code Act, which defines murder as the unlawful killing of another person with malice aforethought. While the Penal Code does not explicitly criminalize suicide, 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,” the spokesperson explained. “In 2024, the Police registered and investigated 218 cases of attempted suicide, as detailed in the Police Annual Crime Report.”
This clarification aimed to address the Daily Monitor’s implication that the police were ignoring the issue of suicide. The police argued that their focus was on reporting legally defined crimes, and that attempted suicides, which fall under that definition, were indeed included in their report.
The police also refuted the Daily Monitor’s claims regarding other crime statistics. The newspaper had alleged that the report indicated a decrease in violent crimes such as homicides, robberies, and rape. The police countered that this was “utterly false.” They presented data showing increases in all three categories: homicides up by 1.9%, robberies up by 5%, and rapes up by 5.7%.
Furthermore, the police dismissed the Daily Monitor’s suggestion that unit commanders and anonymous sources doubted the accuracy of the crime statistics. They detailed their comprehensive crime records management system, which they said ensures accurate data collection from local police posts to CID headquarters. “Consequently, the Daily Monitor’s claim that unit commanders question the statistics is suspect,” the spokesperson stated. “The statistics originate from these very unit commanders, who are responsible for reporting crimes within their jurisdictions.”
The police concluded by labeling the Daily Monitor article “baseless and fabricated,” accusing the newspaper of disseminating misleading information aimed at damaging the reputation of the Uganda Police Force. The central point of contention, however, remained the handling of suicide statistics, a sensitive issue that highlighted the complex relationship between law enforcement, public health, and media reporting.