Business Day February 2, 2007
THE Institute for Security Studies says the violent nature of aggravated robbery in SA, and the obvious lack of fear of being caught by culprits who pick times when the public is likely to be around, are among the country's most serious crime challenges.
Institute researcher Antoinette Louw said yesterday the public perception that crime was out of control could be linked to the violent nature of crime and lack of communication by the police. This was made worse by the public having to wait a year-and-a-half for crime statistics.
While crime incidence is 7% higher than it was 12 years ago, there has been a steady decrease over the past three years in most categories. Louw, who has been monitoring the statistics for years, sees this as positive. But the rate of robbery, said Louw, was significantly higher than it was 12 years ago, with common robbery increasing 89% and aggravated robbery by 16% between 1994-95 and 2005-06.
Most robbery-type crimes had decreased over the past three years, with the exception of car theft and cash-in-transit heists.
"The response of police leaders has left the public with the sense that government, and the police in particular, don't care enough about the problem of crime or its consequences," she said.
"What would help is a sincere and informed acknowledgement of the problems, followed by a clear outline of how these will be dealt with in various parts of the country."
Louw said Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula's remark last June, that people who "whinge" about crime should leave the country, had not helped.
It had not reduced public fears that robberies at shopping malls, banks and homes often targeted people. The threat of rape and murder and that these crimes were generally committed by large groups tends to fuel public fears.
After peaking in 2001-02 at 15846, reported robberies declined steadily, reaching 12434 in 2004-05. In the past financial year, robberies increased 3%.
Car theft was up 2,5% on 2004-05. Louw attributed this to an increase in the number of registered vehicles and the fact that organised crime was generally rising. The 74% increase in cash-in- transit heists between 2004-05 and 2005-06 was seen as a matter of concern.
Factors were more cash in circulation, inadequate cash management, the absence of minimum standards for vehicles, training and vetting among companies that moved cash, and guards generally being outnumbered by criminals during attacks.
A decrease in bank robberies because of banks stepping up security could also be a factor.
Louw said promises by the police that the next set of crime statistics would be released in early May, rather than in September, were encouraging and would reduce speculation about crime.
"Of the information that has been provided to the public it's encouraging to know that organised crime has been identified as a priority and that intelligence capacity and border control will be improved, although we know little about the precise restructuring of the police service." It was also seen as encouraging that Nqakula had hired the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation to help police in understanding violence.
Research by Robert Mattes of the Centre for Social Science Research found that while SA police were often better resourced than their African neighbours, the perception of its performance ranked among the lowest on the continent.
He said this suggested that "throwing more money" at the police or employing more people would not reduce crime. What was needed was a more community-orientated police service.
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Labels: Corruption, Crime, South Africa
