Eastern Region police commissioner, Arlen Baluwa, says for instance in 2018, the region registered 475 murder cases from January to December but in 2019,  597 cases were registered with 22 of the murder cases involving persons with albinism.

Commissioner Baluwa who was speaking in Liwonde Saturday night during belated new year party for senior police officers in the region also said in 2019, rape and defilement cases also increased with 11.9 and 13.5 percent respectively but the commissioner attributed the increase to increased awareness.

“There is an increase in reported sexual offences, namely, rape and defilement. Rape cases have increased by 21 cases from 177 to 198 cases representing an increase of 11.9 percent, defilement cases have similarly increased by 192 cases from 1,426 in 2018 to 1, 618 in 2019 representing an increase of 13.5 percent," said Baluwa.

On road traffic accidents she said in 2019 road accidents rose to 606 accidents from 2018’s 309 representing a 196.1 percent increase but there has been a 1.9 decrease in deaths caused by road accidents.

Meanwhile, Baluwa, who admitted that police faced challenges to ensure public order management after release of the May 21 tripartite elections has assured the general public that police will continue to ensure respect to human rights and the law in the course of their duties.

The remarks are coming as some sections of the society are accusing police of violating the rights they were supposed to protect giving an example of the incident at Msundwe and other areas where some police officers allegedly raped women.