Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ANTANANARIVO1
2008-01-02 11:24:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Antananarivo
Cable title:  

ANTANANARIVO: 2007 ANNUAL CRIME EVALUATION

Tags:  ASEC KCRM MA 
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VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAN #0001/01 0021124
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021124Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0824
UNCLAS ANTANANARIVO 000001 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DS/IP/AF - PAUL MARGULIES
DEPT FOR DS/DSS/ITA - DANNY ROTHSTEIN
DEPT FOR AF/E

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KCRM MA
SUBJECT: ANTANANARIVO: 2007 ANNUAL CRIME EVALUATION
QUESTIONNAIRE (ACEQ)

REF: 00 STATE 50692

UNCLAS ANTANANARIVO 000001

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DS/IP/AF - PAUL MARGULIES
DEPT FOR DS/DSS/ITA - DANNY ROTHSTEIN
DEPT FOR AF/E

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KCRM MA
SUBJECT: ANTANANARIVO: 2007 ANNUAL CRIME EVALUATION
QUESTIONNAIRE (ACEQ)

REF: 00 STATE 50692


1. CRIME MOBILITY:


B. Criminal elements generally concentrate their activities
in high crime areas, but sometimes enter nearby
neighborhoods, including those of Mission housing.

Comment: Criminal elements in the capital usually focus on
densely populated areas and commercial zones. However,
criminal elements sometimes branch into the neighborhood
where Mission residences are located or wealthy neighborhoods.


2. CRIME AMBIENCE:


B. Mission neighborhoods are surrounded by low crime buffer
zones, which are perceived as safe during the day but are
unsafe at night because of street crime.

Comment: While the Mission neighborhood does not have a
buffer zone per se, generally the area is safe to walk around
during the day and night. However, the perception by criminal
elements is that foreigners have money; therefore crimes are
committed in the neighborhood and surrounding area day and
night. RSO does not advise walking at night outside of the
Mission housing area alone. RSO has no specific information
and has not seen any trends indicating that Embassy personnel
or AMCITS are being targeted. By and large, most crime is
directed towards Malagasy Nationals and other foreign
tourists.


3. AGGRESSIVENESS OF CRIMINALS:


C. Criminal perpetrators usually commit street crimes and
burglaries, and are not deterred by risk of confrontation
with occupants during burglaries.

Comment: Traditionally, Malagasy are passive people. However,
the Mission has been receiving weekly reports of increased
criminal activity within the Malagasy community and Expats
who are native to Madagascar by armed criminal elements
around the city of Antananarivo. Criminal gangs exist and are
comprised of former felons, ex-military and police from the
former regimes. Often the criminals know the occupants of the
residence or have intelligence indicating an increased amount
of assets being held in the residence and have no problem
confronting the occupants of the residence by force.


4. ARMING OF CRIMINALS:


B. Criminal perpetrators usually are armed with knives/lethal
cutting weapons.

Comment: Most criminals in Madagascar carry some sort of
weapon when committing an offense. This can be partly

attributed to the fact that most Malagasy men carry knives or
other edged weapons for self-defense and/or for work due to
the country's subsistence standard of living and heavy
dependence on farming for employment. Criminal elements have
armed themselves with pistols and AK-47s. These weapons are
believed to be from stocks issued to former police and
military members of the former GOM regime. The Mission has
received confirmed reports of attempted weapon thefts at
military and police weapon depots by corrupt security force
elements. The inventory and access control of weapon stocks
controlled by the GOM are suspect at best. Finally, there
have been several arrests of individuals making home made
handguns.


5. AGGREGATION OF CRIMINALS:


C. Criminal perpetrators usually operate in groups of two to
four individuals (or larger) and occasionally can be
confrontational and violent.

Comment: The Mission receives weekly police reports of home
invasion robberies in which two to four armed individuals
enter a residence by force. Criminal elements are aware of
the fact that police response times to emergency calls for
assistance are very lengthy due to limited police resources.
Frequently, police are unable to respond to emergency calls
at all due to a lack of police vehicles or lack of gasoline
for their police vehicles.


6. DETERRENCE/RESPONSE OF POLICE:


D. Local police or neighborhood associations are totally
ineffective in deterring or disrupting burglaries and other
crimes in Mission neighborhoods, and seldom are able to

apprehend or arrest suspects after the fact.

Comment: The Mission neighborhood depends on the Local Guard
Force Mobile Patrol to provide a quick reaction force to
respond to an emergency call from a Mission residence.
Response time for the Mission's Mobile Patrol is under five
minutes and normally within two minutes on a distress call to
the Mission neighborhood.

The police are unable to respond to alarm calls or emergency
calls within a reasonable time. The police are able to
respond to an incident within 15 to 45 minutes or longer due
to a number of factors. When emergency telephone calls are
initiated by residents in the city, frequently the police
telephones will go unanswered or the caller will receive a
busy tone. Secondly, if an emergency call is answered, the
police will usually have to meet a resident of the household
at a recognizable landmark in the neighborhood to help guide
the responding police unit to the residence requesting
assistance which increases the response time to an emergency
call. The police do not have a computerized 911 emergency
call system which can locate the residence of an emergency
call. A third issue hampering police response is the
credibility of the caller requesting services. The police
must judge the credibility of the caller in order to
determine if potential criminal elements are trying to send
the police units off in the opposite direction before a
criminal raid on a residence begins. Normally, a district
police office will have only one or two police cars available
and functioning for any type of intervention operation. The
final issue crippling response time within the city of
Antananarivo is the city traffic jams. During peak rush hour,
an extra 30 minutes or more can be added to the normal
response time for police to arrive at the scene of an
incident.

Often the police depend on Mission transportation to a
particular crime event or conducting an investigation. The
police have a mediocre record for apprehending suspects after
a criminal act has been committed. Additionally, the police
have severe resource constraints. The police are chronically
short of police vehicles, gasoline, radio communications, and
rely on an inventory of outdated weaponry to deal with law
and order. The Mission's 24/7 Local Guard Force program,
combined with the Mobile Patrol, are our best deterrent
against violent and invasive crime in our housing area.


7. TRAINING/PROFESSIONALISM OF POLICE:


D. Police are mediocre in professionalism and training; they
are somewhat apathetic toward Post residential security
requirements, including response to alarms and investigation
of incidents in the Mission neighborhoods; they have definite
resource/manpower limitations that inhibit their deterrence
or response effectiveness.

Comment: There are two national police forces in Madagascar.
The National Police has criminal jurisdiction for all cities
in Madagascar, and has the responsibility to protect Mission
residential areas from criminal activity. The Gendarmerie has
the responsibility for the countryside of Madagascar. There
is a degree of rivalry between the two; the Gendarmerie is
considered to be more professional and responsive than the
National Police, having assisted the Mission in the past with
regard to criminal incidents against Peace Corps Volunteers.
Police/Gendarmerie lack professional training in many areas
of policing. However, since joining the International Law
Enforcement Academy (Gaborone, Botswana) the level of
expertise and professionalism is improving. Finally, the
country's police force lack resources that would enable them
to conduct their duties and be more responsive to the needs
of the people (vehicles, communication systems, continuous
training, and personal equipment).

MARQUARDT