The Director of Criminal Investigations (CID) AIGP Tom Magambo said there are concerns about the ratio of detectives to the number of cases that are reported to police annually.
According to the current police data, the CID case load ratio is 1:54 yearly meaning that each detective investigates 54 cases in a year whereas the global ratio for case load is 1:12.
Magambo while hosting the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs on Friday at CID headquarters Kibuli said the Police leadership is considering internal recruitment as an immediate measure to increase the number of personnel available to CID.
"The first immediate measure we are going to internally try to beef up the numbers within the police family first," he said.
However, Magambo said increasing the number of investigators alone would not be enough because criminal activity is also changing rapidly.
He said criminals are increasingly operating in digital spaces, creating a need for police to develop the technical capacity to investigate offences involving technology and artificial intelligence.
"Criminals have migrated. We are now talking about artificial intelligence, we are talking about people operating all these digital spaces and committing crime," Magambo said.
He said CID must accelerate the development of its digital investigation infrastructure to enable detectives to keep pace with technology-driven crime.
Magambo also called for the integration of databases across government and security institutions, saying fragmented information systems can slow down investigations.
He said investigators need quick and authorized access to relevant information to establish links between suspects, incidents and other evidence.
"For you to have a good system to investigate, you must be able to integrate it so that it can be used quickly by anyone," he said.
Magambo said integrating databases would require discussions on the legal and policy frameworks governing access to and use of information.
The parliamentary inspection also examined CID infrastructure, including the Crime Data Centre, which is intended to support modern criminal investigations.
Magambo said the facility is expected to become an important part of CID's response to digital and data-driven crime.
Although the project was initially expected to be completed earlier, he said the directorate now expects to reach new targets by March next year.
Funding remains another challenge for the police, Magambo said, but he praised the parliamentary committee for engaging directly with police engineers and assessing how resources allocated to infrastructure are being utilised.
He said better working facilities are essential for investigators to perform their duties effectively.
"As an end user, as a director of CID, I'm happy when there's that interface and then it makes my process of getting my working space faster for my officers," Magambo said.
Despite the challenges, Magambo said CID remains committed to improving investigations and reducing crime.
He said the directorate's performance should ultimately be measured by whether Ugandans feel safe enough to move freely without relying on the visible presence of police officers.
"We should be able to walk on the streets without a uniform. That is the only measure we can have," he said.
Magambo said declining crime figures alone would not be enough if Ugandans continued to experience violent incidents.
Ms Shamim Malende, the Woman Member of Parliament for Kampala and a member of the committee said CID has done a commendable job in improving infrastructure and technology innovations to ensure a swift response to its mandate of promoting security through crime investigations.
Malende pledged that the committee will push the government to allocate the remaining money to complete the new CID offices by 2027.
"We have noticed that the money that was given to them has been put to use, but there is an outstanding balance that is supposed to be disbursed, which we, as the members of the committee we shall push to see that it's given in time," Malende said.
Last year, police released its annual crime report showing how Uganda recorded a 10.2 percent drop in crime in 2025.According to the figures in the report, reported cases dropped from 218,715 in 2024 to 196,405 in 2025.
Overall crime in Uganda has continued to decline for four consecutive years, dropping from 231,653 cases in 2023 to 196,405 in 2025.
