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THIS WEEK: Police issues new guidelines on fire arm ownership
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Owing to increased rate of crime by use of guns, the new Inspector General of Police Martin Okoth Ochola has issued new guidelines on owning fire arms.
In an internal memo dated Mar.15, Ochola ordered the various departments of police to streamline management of fire arms both in possession of the force, private security organizations and civilians, and file a full inventory to his office.
Ochola who asked officials to adhere to the force’s standard procedures urged police commanders to ensure that all the fire arms are well registered and asked them to recover all the arms being illegally and irregularly possessed.
A recent crime report by the police Flying Squad Unit indicated that northern Uganda registered the highest number of gun related crimes with Lira district accounting for 18.8 percent and Gulu at 14.4 cases in the entire country.
Last year the unit recovered 48 guns including 30 AK47s, six pistols, two PKs and 524 bullets. 2017 statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs show 503 people were killed whereas 1477 survived with wounds resulting from guns between 2014 and 2016.
