Nairobi Regional Police Commander Philip Ndolo on June 19, said there has been a spike in petty crimes across Nairobi, involving both secondary and primary school students.
Police records show that more teenagers are taking to the streets and engaging in petty crimes to pass the time.
“We have realised, during the curfew and since the closure of schools where we have children who are idle at home, parents are not very keen on what their children are doing,” he explained.
This comes in the wake of a viral video that emerged online of a highschool student who was caught stealing mobile phones in Githurai.
In the video, the teenager explained how he and his schoolmates steal phones and sell them to a form four student, who later sells them.
“I’ve noted twice or thrice where we have arrested primary school children robbing people of mobile phones and they go sell them to others,” Ndolo explained.
In a press briefing on Thursday, June 18, Education CS George Magoha asked parents to take good care of their children.
"It's about time parents took over the control of their children," he urged.
President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the closure of schools on Sunday, March 15 to mitigate the spread of the deadly virus. Since then, parents, students and teachers have been working to keep the learners engaged while at home.
"We have suspended learning in all our educational institutions with immediate effect. For those in boarding schools, the school administration is to ensure that students are home by Wednesday," stated Uhuru.
However, the Nairobi Police Boss noted that since the pandemic hit, crime rates in the CBD have dropped significantly.
April recorded the lowest number of reported crime cases at 180. In May, Ndolo said, 264 criminal cases were reported while January had the highest number of reported crimes at 821.
Ndolo said, normally, at least 1,500 cases would be reported around this time of the year.
“In a normal year, you’d see us getting between 1,500 to 2,000 crime incidents, but since the start of the curfew we have seen the incidents have gone quite low,” he noted.
