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SA's murder, robbery rate decreases

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10 September 2010

The police are winning the war against crime in South Africa, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said at the release of the national crime statistics for 2009/10, which show decreases in murders, attempted murders, car hijackings, street robberies, bank robberies and cash-in-transit heists.

Murders down by 8.6%

Addressing the media in Pretoria on Thursday, Mthethwa said that murders had decreased by 8.6 percent between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 – the third-largest drop in South Africa's murder rate since 1995.

"For the first time in the history of the SAPS, the murder figure fell below the 17 000 mark, compared to 26 877 in 1995/1996 fiscal year," Mthethwa said, adding that total of 11 834 murder-related arrests had been made in the same period.

While this had bolstered their resolve to fight crime, the police would endeavour to reduce the figure even more, Mthethwa said.

Aggravated robberies down by 7.5%

Another key crime category that saw a decline in 2009/10 was that of robbery with aggravating circumstances, which decreased by 7.5 percent overall.

The category includes public or street robberies, which dropped by 10.4%, with 9 552 arrests being made; bank robberies (8.8% decrease, 38 arrests); and cash-in-transit robberies (7.3% decrease, 52 arrests).

"We can attribute this decrease to extremely high levels of police visibility which we maintained in various communities," Mthethwa said, adding that community policing had also contributed to the positive figures.

Business robberies down, residential robberies 'stabilise'

There was also a significant decrease in business robberies, which were down by 51% at major retailers, by 11% at shopping malls, by 25% at petrol stations, and by 18% at post offices.

While robberies at residential premises were up by 2.7%, Mthethwa said the comparison with the alarming increases of the past five years suggested this type of crime had started to stabilise.

Robberies at non-residential premises, which also showed sharp increases in recent years, decreased by 4.4% in 2009/10.

Mthethwa attributed the decline and stabilising of these crimes to partnerships with communities and businesses, as well as police initiatives such as the introduction of "war rooms" and tactical response teams, and the profiling of most-wanted suspects.

Source: BuaNews