Chapter 7

CRIME PROFILE: SIMPLE THEFT


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


Key points
  • Simple theft was experienced by 32% of respondents and was the second most common crime in the city.
  • Young people were particularly at risk of simple theft as were residents of the inner city.
  • Simple theft occurred most often on Saturdays (28%) and between 12h00 and 18h00 (46%).
  • Victims were more likely to have accessories stolen such as jewellery, followed by money.
  • Victims tended to be alone when the theft occurred.
  • Simple theft happened most often on the street outside shops and offices, or in the streets in residential areas while victims were going to or returning from work, studying or shopping.

Simple theft was defined in the survey as an incident where an item was taken from someone without using threats or force. Simple theft would therefore include crimes like pick-pocketing and bag-snatching. When such thefts involved the use of force, the details were recorded under the robbery section.

Who is most at risk

Table 6 shows who was at risk of simple theft in Dar es Salaam. Those who were most clearly in the high-risk category included young people between 15 and 25 years and people living in the inner city.

Table 6: Victim profile of simple theft
Victim characteristics Highest risk (% people in each Category that were victimised) Lowest risk (% people in each category that were victimised)
Gender
 Female -38% Male -25%
Age 15-25 -44% Over 40 -25%
Employment status Income dependent -37%
Formal employment -35%		 Informal employment
-22%
Educational status Post-secondary school -37%
Secondary -37%		 Nothing/Primary -26%
Area of residence Inner city Rural area
-52% -6%

What was stolen

The items most likely to be stolen during a simple theft were accessories such as jewellery and sunglasses, followed by money (figure 22).

Figure 22: Type of item stolen during simple theft

When simple theft occurred

Levels of simple theft peaked in June and again in December (figure 23). In terms of the days of the week, more than a quarter of victims said the theft occurred on a Saturday (figure 24). Most simple thefts occurred during the day, with nearly half being reported as happening between 12h00 and 18h00 and a third between 06h00 and 12h00 (figure 25).

Figure 23: Month of the year when simple theft occurred




Figure 24: Day of the week when simple theft occurred




Figure 25: TIme of day when simple theft occurred


 

Where incidents occurred

Victims were asked where they were when the incident occurred and what they were doing at the time. Victims were almost as likely to have been in the streets outside shops or offices (probably the central business district) as in streets in residential areas (figure 26).

Figure 26: Where simple theft occurred

Victims were most likely to have been going to or returning from shopping (mentioned by 31% of victims) or returning from work or school (30%). Thirteen per cent said they were visiting friends when the theft occurred. Almost equal proportions of victims said they were going to work, school or college (8%), engaged in recreational activity (7%), at home (6%), or at work, school or college (4%). The vast majority of victims (71%) were alone when the simple theft was committed.

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