| Joburgers still need to be cautious |
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| Written by Lucille Davie | |
| Tuesday, 01 July 2008 | |
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The police service has posted a drop in contact and property crime, although Joburg is still a favourite of carjackers and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. 
Contact- and property-related crimes and other serious crimes declined over the past year
JOBURG'S affluent suburbs are still the target of criminals, particularly regarding carjackings and house robberies, according to the latest crime report. Suburbs like Sandton, Honeydew and Douglasdale, and the Pretoria suburbs of Brooklyn and Garsfontein, are hard hit when it comes to these two categories of crime, according to the June 2008 crime statistics report from the South African Police Service (SAPS). The period covers 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. Burglary from non-residential, mainly business premises, increased by 47,4 percent while burglary from residential premises increased by 13,5 percent. Carjacking rose by 4,4 percent, and truck hijacking rose by 39,6 percent. These statistics were described by the report as being of "extreme concern". And, although a small percentage, extreme violence does "occasionally occur". Therefore the chances of a high-profile person being targeted and killed are much higher, says the report. These incidents are then likely to hit the front pages of newspapers locally and internationally. "Such focused and selective reporting on less than 5 percent of South Africa's contact crime, read together with the contact crime statistics, consequently creates an international image of South Africa as an extremely violent society." Although of little comfort to ordinary people, the SAPS says that South Africa "compares quite favourably" with other Interpol member countries when it comes to property-related and serious crime. There were decreases in most contact- and property-related crimes and other serious crimes. Common robbery was down 9,5 percent, rape down 8,8 percent over a nine-month period, murder down 4,7 percent, attempted murder down 7,5 percent, robbery with aggravating circumstances down 7,4 percent, common assault down 6,6 percent, and indecent assault down 2,1 percent. Reductions were recorded in malicious damage to property, at 5,4 percent, while arson was down 6,6 percent. Theft of motor vehicles went down 7,9 percent while theft out of motor vehicles was down 10,8 percent. More than 75 percent of these crimes occurred in Gauteng, with KwaZulu-Natal coming in second, with 25+ percent. This pointed to an overall decrease of 6,4 percent in the incidence of contact crime during the 2007 and 2008 period. "This means that since the implementation of the 7 to 10 percent contact crime reduction targets during 2004/2005, an average annual reduction of 7 percent in the overall incidence of these crimes has indeed been achieved," says the report. Very worrying, however, is the 25,4 percent increase in the number of cases of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, although the report puts this down to "much more stringent law enforcement" by local metro police services and the SAPS. Drug-related crime increased by 3,3 percent. "Detailed docket, geographical and timeline analyses of the contact crimes confirm that at least two-thirds of all contact crime cases are strongly linked to specific social behaviour patterns which, inter alia, involve alcohol and other substance abuse and are mainly associated with informal settlements in megatownships," indicates the report.
Gauteng and Joburg statistics Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was above the national average of 25,4 percent – in the province it increased by 29,3 percent. Other increases were a 3,3 percent jump in indecent assault for the period April 2007 to December 2007; a 2,1 percent increase of burglary at business premises; and a 6,5 percent increase in shoplifting. Incidents of rape in the province decreased by 11,2 percent, compared with a national decrease of 8,8 percent. Wayne Minnaar, the Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD) spokesperson, said that in May this year national Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe had given the City's metro police department a service excellence award for the best performing metro police department in the country. In particular, the award acknowledged the drop in the number of accidents by 20 percent over the 2007 festive season, and a drop of 71 percent over the Easter holiday period. Minnaar put this down to the 89 roadblocks set up by the department over the period from July 2007 to April 2008. Some 3 700 drunk drivers were arrested during this time, and 389 illegal firearms seized. "I have no doubt that the increase in the number of roadblocks has led to the reduction in the number of accidents," he said. He added that the JMPD planned to intensify the number of roadblocks erected on the city's streets. Minnaar also indicated that the High Speed Unit, initiated by Sergeant Dennis Busch, who received an award for innovation, had made a difference to taking speeding motorists off the roads. Between July 2007 and April 2008, some 930 speeding motorists were arrested, with the highest speed recorded at 272 kilometres an hour. Joburg has 1 800 metro officers in 583 vehicles patrolling the city's streets. Some 500 new officers will take to the streets this month. Related stories: |
