Analyzing physical and socio-economic factors for property crime incident in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Property crime has become a challenge in major cities of developing countries including Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. However, factors contributing to property crime have not been carefully examined. Therefore, this paper presents the physical and socio-economic factors that clearly have a substantial impact on property crime. In this study, both primary and secondary data were used. Recorded property crime was collected from Addis Ababa police commission. Property crime incidence locations were georefrenced using Google Earth as well as handheld Global Positioning System. Then, a property crime surface map and pattern were created using point pattern analysis and inverse distance weighted interpolation technique. The study area was then classified into low crime and hotspot areas based on the frequency of crime events as well as the created crime surface map. A total of 200 respondents (100 in high crime area and 100 in low crime area) were selected using purposive sampling techniques. Five key informants were selected purposely from senior police officers. Data were collected using questionnaires and in-depth interview. A binary logistic regression model was employed to analyze the collected data. The data analysis showed that physical features mainly commercial center, road with no street light and river courses were positively correlated at significant level with the committing of property crime. On the other hand, public participation in crime prevention, witness and crime events reporting influenced negatively the committing of property crime. In addition, unemployment, family background, education level, age, time, season and police patrolling activities determine the occurrence of property crime events. The finding depicts that the identified physical and socio-economic factors can influence the patterns and rate of crime incidents in the study area. Therefore, the law enforcement officers should consider these influential factors to deploy police officers and to reduce property crime problems.