Chapter 11

CRIME PROFILE: ROBBERY


Published in Crime in Dar es Salaam
Results of a City Victim Survey
Rory Robertshaw, Anotinette Louw and Anna Mtani


Key points
  • Robbery was experienced by 14% of respondents over the five-year period.
  • People living in new and established suburbs were significantly more at risk of robbery than those living in rural parts of Dar es Salaam.
  • People with post-secondary school qualifications and those in formal employment were also in the high-risk category.
  • Most robberies took place on Fridays and Saturdays and at night.
  • The most common place for robbery to occur was on the streets in residential areas.
  • More than two-thirds of incidents involved actual violence as opposed to threats only.

Robbery was defined in the survey as an incident in which property is taken from a person by force or threat of force. The vast majority of incidents described below were actual rather than attempted robberies, in other words, the majority of victims (83%) said that something was stolen during the incident.

Who is most at risk

Table 12 details the risk profile for people living in Dar es Salaam with regard to robbery. Probably because of their higher incomes, people employed in the formal sector and those with high school qualifications were most at risk of victimisation. However, the most significant indicator of risk was where people live in the city. Those in new and established suburbs were much more likely to be robbed than those living in other areas of the city.

Table 12: Victim profile of robbery
Victim characteristics Highest risk (% people in each category that were victimised) Lowest risk (% people in each category that were victimised)
Employment status Formal employment-20% Unemployed -10%
Income dependent -10%
Education status Post-secondary -23% Nothing/Primary -10%
Area of residence Established suburb -17%
New suburb -21% 		Rural area -6%

What was stolen

Unlike simple theft, money was most likely to be taken in the case of robbery. Accessories and bags were the second and third most likely items to be stolen (figure 43).

Figure 43: Items stolen during robbery

When robberies took place

The incidence of robbery was evenly spread throughout the year with a peak in December when a third of victims said they were robbed. Robberies were most likely to have occurred over the weekend with Friday and Saturday together accounting for 55% of all incidents (figure 44). Robbery in Dar es Salaam was as likely to occur in the afternoon and evening as late at night, with 37% of incidents occurring between 12h00 and 06h00 and 38% between 18h00 and 24h00 (figure 45).

Figure 44: Day of the week when robbery took place




Figure 45: Time of day when robbery took place

Where robberies took place

Two-thirds of robberies took place in residential areas, mostly in the streets or in people’s driveways, garages and gardens (figure 46).

Figure 46: Where robbery took place

More than three-quarters of victims said they were alone at the time of the incident (77%). Victims were typically engaged in after-hours activities such as returning from work, school or university (31%), visiting friends (23%), and going to or returning from shopping (20%). Some were engaged in recreational activity (9%) or were at home (8%). A few were going to work, school or college (4%) or were at work, school or college (1%).

Use of violence and weapons

Although robbery is by definition violent, it can involve either the threat of violence or the actual use of violence. Most incidents (71%) involved violence. Twenty nine per cent of victims said only threats were used.

Most victims said a weapon was used to commit the robbery (figure 47). Among the weapons seen by the victims, knives were most common. Few said that a gun was used.

Figure 47: Use of weapon (black) and type of weapon (grey) used during robberies

Less than a third of robbery victims (29%) sustained injuries. Of those who were injured, 53% were treated in a hospital for the injury.

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