Police in Chitipa has called for close collaboration between police and communities so that they work hand in hand to reduce crime rate which has been on the rise in the past nine months.

Chitipa Police Station Officer in Charge, Aubrey Kawale, made the call on Friday at a meeting with community leaders in the district.

He said police and community leaders need to come up with common ideas on how best to reduce trending crimes as some have doubled.

“We are experiencing a rise in house breaking crimes, fatal accidents of motorcycles and incidents of early marriages in the district. So in order to reduce these problems we are sensitizing the communities to work together with us,” he said.

From janaury to spetember this year, the station has registered an increase in criminal offenses from 350 cases in 2019 to 394 cases in 2020 in the same period under review.

The meeting which was organized by Tulipoka Development Initiative (TDI) was patronized by community leaders, religious leaders, chiefs, councilors and members of community policing.

Speaking during the meeting, TDI financial administration officer, Wanangwa Kayira, said as an organization that works with communities, they decided to join hands with police to discuss crime reduction ways.

“Our office recently lost two motorcycles to thieves, so we decided to bring together the police and communities in order for them to have proper collaboration because the perpetrators of these crimes live in communities,” said Kayira.

On her part, chairperson for Mwaulambia-Kaseye Area Development Committee, Laureen Chilungulo, said they will organize sensitization meetings in the communities to raise awareness against criminal activities especially on forcing girls into early marriages.

Credit: Manna