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.

Key words: Insecurity, crime mapping, geographical information systems, remote sensing, Samburu