Although there is a significant improvement in the security of people and their properties, and a reduction of crimes compared to last year, police officials have said more measures are bing put in place to minimize criminality.

Inspector-general of police Emmanuel Gasana said that the level of crime has reduced by 13% across the country, while the most common crimes include murder, human trafficking, rape, domestic violence and cyber crimes.

Murder which reduced by 19%, that is from 230 cases in the first six months of 2012 to 188 this year, while gender-based violence reduced by 9% and traffic accidents reduced by 25%.

The decline in crimes is attributed to aggressive awareness campaigns and increased partnership with the public through community policing.

However more measures are being taken to minimize criminality, with a special focus on gender-based violence. Among measures set to combat this vice are the establishment of more GBV one-stop centers, which provide free medical, legal and psychosocial services to the victims, and continued community mobilization.

"Our aim is to have one center in every hospital. We are targeting to have at least 18 by the end of this year. Now there are only 5 and we are equipping them so that they can provide good service to the victims" Gasana explained.

Another area that will receive special attention is traffic safety, with road accidents mainly due to negligence, over-speeding and bad maneuvers. Nevertheless, there has been a significant reduction in accidents from 5081 in the first half of 2012 to 4417 in 2013 (-13%).

In this respect, the police is planning to open new mechanical inspection centers in Ngoma, Karongi, Huye and Musanze and 250 police officers are being trained on vehicle technical control.

Gasana also announced that the national police is growing in terms of human resources and professionalism. This allows the force not only to scale up its capacity to deal with criminality, but also to reinforce mechanisms of ensuring the safety of people and properties.