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 
 
¶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