Article: Most crimes have declined: Minister

Most crimes have declined, but rape, ATM blasts and commercial crimes were on the rise in 2010/11, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Thursday. South Africa's murder rate dropped by 6.5 percent to 15,940 murders in 2010/11 compared to the preceding period.
 
Hmmm, based on the fact that the 4 dockets I have directly been involved in reporting to the police in the last year have all vanished I don't believe these stats at all...

Yes they were for minor things, however if this is what happens at well resourced and staffed Police stations I can just imagine the filing nightmare at the busier / less resourced ones
 
Jladan said:
Hmmm, based on the fact that the 4 dockets I have directly been involved in reporting to the police in the last year have all vanished I don't believe these stats at all...

Yes they were for minor things, however if this is what happens at well resourced and staffed Police stations I can just imagine the filing nightmare at the busier / less resourced ones
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"Vanishing dockets" - thx for bringing that up. If ppl only knew what happens to many of these dockets (vava voom!). Certain ppl in blue uniforms getting paid by certain dodgy ppl to make certain dockets go....wooooosh!
 
In all 4 of my cases I don't even get the impression that someone was paid to make things dissapear, someone just took the files out in the course of investigation and just never bothered to return them..
 
The police are actively putting people off reporting crimes. They keep you waiting a very long time or send you away for a start. In my own experience, they come when called and then disappear when it comes time to fill out forms. In other cricumstances they just refuse to do it. No wonder some figures are lower.
 
The area a police station covers is divided into wards and a detective or more is assigned to each ward. Its in his interests to encourage people to not make a case, drop the case, or to "loose" the file so that his records look better and so that there is less work for him.

I heard of a woman that was raped, went to the police station and they refused to open a case because they said it would go nowhere because she didn't know the rapist. At the hospital they refused to do a rape kit because she didn't have a case number. In the end she went home, showered and went to see her GP the next day. Years later she was raped again, she just went straight to her GP.

Now how can the stats mean anything.
 
I am very happy about this, but I'd rather wait for the security and insurance companies to release their crime stats and compare it with government stats.

In the past stats from the insurance companies and the police didn't match up.
 
A slightly different perspective from us Eastern Cape folks (thanks to Alan @ MyPE):

The fact that the Eastern Cape has the highest murder ratio in the country at 47,3 murders per 100 000 of the population is a huge shock. Gauteng by comparison has a murder ratio of 29,1. This figure is truly devastating. Although the number of reported cases shows a slight decline in contact crimes, violent crime in the Eastern Cape is still at an unacceptably high level.

Sexual crimes have risen slightly by 2,2 % and have now reached the all time high of 9 380 but one must remember that it is estimated that only one in nine rapes are reported. This figure highlights the continued breakdown of moral fibre and the violation of human dignity. The courts, the police and forensic laboratories have to up their game to ensure culprits are brought to book.

Business in the Eastern Cape is clearly under siege with robberies at non-residential premises increasing by 30,2 % – the highest in the country. Burglary at non-residential premises (1,4 %) is also up slightly from 6 424 cases to 6 515 cases. This is the highest increase in the country (1 658 cases up from 1273). This has a negative impact on our economy as the cost to business impacts adversely on job creation.
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http://mype.co.za/new/2011/09/murder-statistic-shocker-for-eastern-cape/
 
Last year sometime I found a large pool of blood under my washing line with trails of it going over the wall into the neighbors yard, but when i phoned the cops they said if there is no body then there is nothing they can do....
 
bekdik said:
C'mon, if a minister says something, it MUST be true.
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I see the sarcasm...

And if the minister said crimes were higher, would you believe him then?

Although not great stats, people don't believe positives anymore and claim it must be BS. Typical.
 
genetic said:
I see the sarcasm...

And if the minister said crimes were higher, would you believe him then?

Although not great stats, people don't believe positives anymore and claim it must be BS. Typical.
Click to expand...

With our government's record its hard not to be skeptical when they say something.
 
Good to see crime stats dropping. Do we know what has caused this drop though (if you've read Freakonomics you'll know not to immediately attribute this to policing). Especially considering that some of the numbers are huge drops in comparison to every previous year.

The very worrying bit is that child rape has gone up considerably. I cannot fathom how a society can allow this to continue. Is there a correlation between child rape and NGOs/NPOs in the child protection sector struggling to get the public money due to them? I think so...
 
Lounger said:
The police are actively putting people off reporting crimes. They keep you waiting a very long time or send you away for a start. In my own experience, they come when called and then disappear when it comes time to fill out forms. In other cricumstances they just refuse to do it. No wonder some figures are lower.
Click to expand...

The way I read it is that REPORTED crime is lower.

I have been told by a law enforcement officer that SAPS are no longer recording certain crimes. An example is petty theft.
However, it's imperative to ensure ALL crimes are reported as the manpower at your police station will be determined by the crime stats of your area.
 
"WTF is with people raping - how sick must you be?"

It's not sick if it's in your culture..........
 
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