USE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN MAPPING CRIME RELATED INSECURITY IN NORTHERN KENYA: CASE STUDY OF SAMBURU COUNTY

Abstract

Containment of violent crime and sustainability of meaningful security in Northern Kenya has become a headache to Kenyan security agencies. Law enforcement agencies and in particular the police have not embraced the use of technology to curb crime. Instead use of crime pin maps to show crime frequency is normally utilized. Mapping crime without analysis is ineffective as far as achieving optimal security is concerned. This study explores the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map crime, etermine causes of dominant violent crime and predict areas where violence is likely to occur in Samburu County. This would assist in security policy making. Samburu County consists of three districts (Samburu North, East and Central). The methodology involved collection and mapping of crime data, mapping of all police posts in the county, overlay of population data to establish relationship between crime and population distribution, use of remote sensing data to establish areas offenders have advantage and hence predict likely areas where crime will occur. Other datasets used included proximity to police station, population density, poverty levels, transport network and terrain. Results of the study show that Samburu North District is the most insecure, with stock theft related insecurity. In this area violence is likely to occur in Barangoi town. Samburu East is the second insecure with robbery incidences, especially in Lerata location. Samburu Central is relatively secure except common crimes. Insecurity was directly related to population density, number of security personnel and poverty levels. Unlike use of crime pin maps to reveal frequency, GIS was able to graphically show high density crime areas, trends and patterns and relationship of crime with other factors analyzed. Use of high resolution image in such a study is recommended to reveal more potential areas for crime occurrence.