More than a third of crime victims in Zimbabwe do not report to the police

More than a third of Zimbabwe’s crime victims do not report to the police but more than half say it is easy to seek help from them, a survey by Afrobarometer released on Monday says.

But Zimbabwe is way better than most African countries as it is ranked seventh in terms of ease of obtaining help from the police. 

Fifty six percent said it was ease to get help from the police while 35 percent said they did not report crime to the police.

The survey covered 34 African countries.

The only countries better than Zimbabwe are Algeria, Mauritius, Swaziland, Namibia, Burundi and Botswana.

West Africans do not trust their police most with 79 percent of those in Togo and Benin saying they do not report crime to the police, followed by Ghana at 75 percent.

Reasons cited for not reporting included:
•    Police don’t listen or care (cited by 14%of respondents), 
•    police would demand a bribe (10%), 
•    police would not be able to do anything (8%), 
•    and police may be involved in the theft or assault (2%)
 

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