The most prevalent crime in Dar es Salaam was burglary, followed by other categories of theft such as ‘simple theft’, theft of livestock, crops and vehicle parts. Although violent crimes were reported less often to the victim survey than property crimes, the rate of assault in Dar es Salaam was high compared to South African cities. In the case of other violent crimes such as robbery, murder and vehicle hijacking, rates were comparatively low in Dar es Salaam.

The survey data suggests that a crime reduction strategy in Dar es Salaam should focus on burglary, simple theft, theft of livestock, vehicle parts and assault. Strategies against assault should be part of a broader focus on reducing violence against women in the city. Interventions should target specific parts of the city and specific groups of people who were most at risk of victimisation.

The risk profiles indicate that burglary projects should target the new or established suburbs where residents were most at risk. Attempts should also be made to raise awareness about safety precautions and target-hardening measures. When asked what they could do to improve their safety, no survey respondents mentioned taking precautions or being more alert, which suggests a limited awareness about risk avoidance. In addition, nearly a quarter of respondents said they had no means of protecting their homes against theft. Most burglaries happened during the time when people were at home. This suggests that there is ample scope for reducing the chances of burglaries being committed. The same applies for the other types of theft.

Projects to reduce simple theft should focus on young people and those living in the inner city. Other key indicators for the design of interventions are that most thefts happened in the afternoons and in the streets outside shops and offices followed by streets in residential areas.

Those living in the rural parts of the city were most at risk of theft of livestock, crops and farm equipment. Projects aimed at reducing these offences should therefore target these parts of Dar es Salaam. Interventions should take into consideration that farm equipment and crops were likely to be stolen during the day, while livestock was largely stolen at night. All three types of theft typically happened over the weekend.

Attempts to reduce vehicle parts theft should focus on the inner city where people were most at risk of this crime. The survey results suggest that there is currently little to deter would-be thieves of car parts. Victims reported that the thefts happened throughout the day with most occuring in public — in residential streets and public parking lots.

Projects to reduce assault should focus on young people between the ages of 15 and 25 years, the unemployed and those living in or visiting established suburbs. Interventions aimed at reducing domestic and ‘social’ violence (between friends) would have to be important components of a strategy against assault, since most were perpetrated in the home, during the weekend, and by partners or neighbours. Risk factors related to places of entertainment should also be investigated.

These survey results can guide the Dar es Salaam Safer Cities project in identifying the crime types, parts of the city and people on which a crime reduction strategy should focus. The findings about the fear of crime are also useful in this regard. Residents of the new and established suburbs felt least safe in their areas after dark. They were also the people most likely to say that they thought crime had increased in recent years. Attention should therefore be directed towards these parts of the city, particularly in the provision of high profile, short-term measures that are designed to make people feel safer.

It is also significant, however, that women, young people between 15 and 25 years and those with the least education also reported high levels of anxiety about crime. It is possible that these fears relate to the high levels of domestic and social violence. The Safer Cities project would need to investigate these trends further and endeavour to reduce not only crime levels but also the high levels of anxiety among certain of the city’s residents.

One of the factors that is undoubtedly related to the fear of crime in Dar es Salaam is the lack of visible policing. The majority of people who said they never saw a police officer on duty in their area felt unsafe after dark in their neighbourhoods. Over half of the survey respondents said government should provide more visible police and security guards and a better distribution of police posts. Access to the police, however, was not the main problem: two-thirds of Dar es Salaam’s residents said they could reach the police within half an hour. Of more concern is the lack of visible police and patrols: more than a third said they never saw a police officer on duty in their area. It is also significant that most people living in the new suburbs and nearly half in the established suburbs — where the fear of crime was highest — said they never saw the police on duty in their areas.

Levels of confidence in the police were low in Dar es Salaam. Nearly a half of survey respondents believed that, compared to previous years, the quality of policing had stayed the same in their area. Over a third said the standard of policing had deteriorated and only 17% believed it had improved. According to the public, the key to making Dar es Salaam safer lies with improved policing. Over half called for more police and security guards and a further 14% said government should end bribery and corruption in the police. Concerns about police corruption, the failure of the police to take crime seriously or to take action against perpetrators, were the main reasons given by victims for not reporting crimes and for being dissatisfied with the way police dealt with victims who did report crime.

Low levels of public confidence in the police’s ability to respond to reports of crime were also recorded in South Africa cities. However, substantially fewer victims in Dar es Salaam said they sought ‘help’ from the police after a crime had occured than did those in South African cities. Most victims in Dar es Salaam turned to family and friends after victimisation. However, many did not seek help from anyone at all. Interventions in the form of victim support, whether through formal or informal means, should therefore be considered as part of a crime reduction strategy for the city.

An important part of any crime reduction strategy is building partnerships between those affected by crime and those responsible for its prevention. The survey findings indicate that there is a willingness among the public in Dar es Salaam to work with the police and to boost the visible presence of the police in the city. When asked what they could do to make the city safer, more than half of the respondents said they could co-operate with the police or join SunguSungu or a similar neighbourhood watch scheme. Further questioning revealed that a quarter of the city’s residents said that people in their community had made arrangements to protect themselves. Most of these arrangements took the form of neighbourhood watch schemes.

Despite these positive attitudes, a quarter of respondents said there was nothing they could do to make the city safer. In South African cities by comparison, people were less inclined to feel helpless against crime, with many suggesting that they could take precautions and be more alert. While these views hardly invoke an image of sophisticated crime reduction, the South African survey results indicate higher levels of awareness about crime and the need to take some responsibility for personal safety than do those in Dar es Salaam.

An important component of a crime reduction strategy would therefore be raising public awareness about how individuals can reduce their risk of victimisation. It would be difficult, however, to win public support for a safer city strategy that focuses on individual and community-based interventions but neglects the issue of policing. Innovative projects are needed that would enhance the visibility of law enforcement in various parts of the city. This does not have to depend solely on increasing the number of police officers on the streets. It could take the form of increased and/or joint patrols by police officials, security guards or neighbourhood watch volunteers in carefully selected target areas where the need for a visible police presence is the greatest.