Voluntary City Patrol Nears Half a Million

Nov 4 , 2023

Nearly half a million volunteers dubbed "peace army" operate across the capital, according to the quarterly report of the Addis Abeba Peace & Security Bureau. Headed by Lidya Girma, the Bureau presented its performance at Getfam Hotel on Haile Gebresilassie St last week. Lidya indicated that the army offers a rich potential for addressing the capital's security concerns lauding that crime reports have decreased from the same period last year with 1,478 incidents reported. A growing trend of recruiting street children for possible acts of violence has prompted the Bureau to place around 8,000 of them into detention facilities. Representatives from the different Weredas had revealed that the guise of religion was increasingly being used as a cover by 'anti-peace' forces with a looming risk in the future. The rise in the circulation of false currencies was revealed by the report with over 700,000 dollars seized by the Bureau alongside 2.7 million Br. In coordination with security officers and police, sudden inspections on 3,811 hotels, 1,978 motels and 716 guest houses were also conducted as part of a city-wide effort to nip budding crime hotspots. These operations had resulted in over one million Birr in gambling funds to be seized along with 2,314 hooka pipes and the detention of 538 suspects.