The galloping urbanisation observed in developing countries is accompanied by numerous security challenges. Bouaké, the «capital of the rebellion» during the political-military crisis of 2002 to 2011, is increasingly faced with a rise in insecurity in all its forms. The objective of the study is to understand the reasons for the increase in insecurity in the city of Bouaké. Various techniques and methodological approaches were used to conduct the study. These were: documentary research, collection of statistical data, interviews with the heads of the security services and city managers, and a questionnaire survey addressed to households that experience these attacks on a daily basis. The results showed that insecurity is growing, as 35.17% of the heads of households interviewed had been victims or witnesses of aggression, compared to 64.83% who said they had never been victims or witnesses. Secondly, the rise in insecurity can be explained by poor security coverage, the deterioration of roads (47.13%) and unemployment. Finally, the strategies adopted to combat insecurity are ineffective. It is therefore urgent that the state sets up an anti-insecurity brigade in Bouaké, like the one that exists in Abidjan, whose results have so far been reassuring.