Personal Security in the informal settlements in cities like Nairobi is a major concern for residents our informal settlements are full of crime. with help of FOSS4G networks i can now help my community solve the problems that we have been facing.
This paper explores how the use of aerial survey data and maps can be applied by local government, community managers and mappers to better identify and reduce public risk in a proactive way and also it evaluates safety concerns and crimes that take place within our communities and initiatives that can be adopted to reduce societal crime.
My name is Nicera Wanjiru I leave in a big city with many informal settlement (slums) The Slum i leave in is very congested with 10 by 10 structures, full of crime, and lot of safety concerns. With the help of FOSS4G Network i can now bring my community into lime light through mapping and data collection on matters of security. with ODK and HERE Technologies i can collect data and generate maps. By attending FOSS4G I can proudly say i have the power to change my community through mapping and data collection and also train others through my initiative, the Community Mappers.
A recent survey conducted by Community Mappers on Safety and crime focused on four areas.
Safety Findings. Major Crime Causes, Crime Mitigation strategies, Risk faced by youths in schools
Safety findings indicates that Robbery is at 82.4%, black mail at 15 % Pick Pocketing is at 33.2% Murder at 23.3% Mugging at 33.2% House breakage at 56.5%.
Unemployment tops the list of major causes of crimes with 58.5% other causes were Drug abuse at 49.2%, poor area security at 38.9%, political insights at 27.5%
On Crime mitigation strategies, reporting perpetrators tops the list with 53.9% but again the response rate by authorities is very poor the residents as only 10% of cases are dealt with. drugs are easily accessible in the informal settlements and this worsens the situation with Marijuana toping the list at 70.5%. Peer pressure was the major risk of school going youths at 80.3%.
another cause of alarm is early pregnancies and school drop outs as you may find girls of age 13 with two kids hence high population and mortality rates of girls trying to procure abortions.
During this survey the community was able to map out all the hot spots in my community and generate maps of different settlements.
Ever since i started leaving in the informal settlement i have always heard cases of femicide, murder, rape cases, robbery, house breakage, mugging deaths due to botched abortions, but i didn't know why all this was happening the causes, in my community even a child can recognize the sound of a rubber bullet and live bullet. we have always leaved in fear. Thanks to FOSS4G I was able to help my community solve problems through mapping and data collections and come up with better crime mitigation strategies safety initiative to save our community. a collective responsibility which was a community based approach on Safety concerns.
I have Lot's of hope in FOSS4G community and I know they will take me to the next level. All I need is a Platform to network.