23 January 2007
Violent crime in South Africa's shopping centres declined over the festive season, says the South African Council of Shopping Centres.
The decline, the council said in a statement on Monday, was a result of an initiative to eliminate crime and to promote greater safety for retailers and customers.
The Shopping Centre Security Initiative, launched late last year, also promotes partnerships between retailers and shopping centre management and owners, and between shopping centres and the government, to share resource in the fight against crime.
The initiative involves the council, the SA Police Service, Business Against Crime, the Consumer Goods Council of SA and the South African Property Owners Association.
In the period leading up to the festive season the body provided guidelines to shopping centres on crime prevention, actions to be taken during a crime incident, and post-incident management.
In KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng - the two provinces worst affected by crime at shopping centres - meetings were held with the police.
SA Council of Shopping Centres general manager Tracey Fowler said it was encouraging that the first efforts of the initiative had shown such success.
"And now that the festive season is over, as a body, we will be moving into developing effective processes and procedures to have a greater and more sustainable impact on violent crime at shopping centres."
One problem experienced, Fowler siad, was the absence of records against which to measure the increase or decline in the number and impact of violent incidents. "This problem is in the process of being rectified to enable assessment on a monthly basis, and to identify trends and problem areas that need to be addressed.
The body has also committed itself to improving communication on cash robberies to all concerned, including the public, shopping centre management, owners of shopping centres and the government.
Source: BuaNews
