Clarkson M. Wanie¹, Reeves M. Fokeng^1,, Divine D. Fenjoh¹

Over the years, the urban space of Bamenda has experienced a significant surge in crimes in tandem with the prevailing socio-political crisis which has fan the flames for urban disorders and odds. The study aimed to investigate various types of crimes, their spatial distribution, spatial variation/density as well as hotspots in Bamenda urbanscape. The study used questionnaires and key informant interviews to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Spatialisation of urban crime types and manifestation was done in a GIS environment using thematic mapping techniques. Four crime categories/types and their sub-classes were identified; violent crimes (805), property crimes (312), organised crimes (452) and white-collar crimes (76) registered cases as on annual basis, with varying intensities from CBD to the suburbs. Of these recurrent crimes within the urban space, seven neighbourhoods were found to be potential crime hotspots with rising annually recorded crimes. Alongside their annually estimated crimes are; Mobile Nkwen (331), Commercial Avenue (301), Mile 4 Nkwen (213), Ntamulung (237), Rendez-vous (245) Azire New church (196) and Below Foncha (122). The study suggest proper collaboration between the city dwellers and the police for early identification and sourcing of crime scenes through video surveillance and the enforcement of policing within crime hotspot zones as a palliative to curb crimes in Bamenda.

Urbanisation, urban crimes, safety, security, crime clusters, spatial variation, planning implications