Parliament, Friday 3 March 2017 – The Portfolio Committee on Police says it is pleased with the improvements witnessed in a number of crime categories as revealed in the recent crime stats that were tabled by the South African Police Service (SAPS) today.
“It is pleasing to see that the implementation of the back to basics strategy on policing has led to the reduction of crimes such as murder, attempted murder, sexual offences, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm,” said Committee Chairperson Mr Francois Beukman.
The crime statistics, which cover the nine-month period of 1 April to 31 December 2016, showed a 0.1% decrease in murder rate, with attempted murder going down by 0.8%. Assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm also decreased by 5.6%, while common assault decreased by 3.7%.
The Committee, however, expressed concern with the minimal impact in bringing down contact crimes. This as the robbery with aggravating circumstances has increased by 6.1%. The Committee was also concerned that trio crimes (carjacking, house robbery and business robbery are widely known as the “trio crimes”) went up by 14.9% across South Africa.
“The fight against contact crimes and the trio crimes needs to be intensified so that we can see a better picture next time,” said Mr Beukman.
Mr Beukman said the Committee took note of the undertaking made by the SAPS leadership in reducing these crime categories and will monitor the progress.
The Committee further commended the work put in by the women and men in blue, in particular as their hard work helps in the achievement of an increase in the number of crimes detected as a result of police action.
The Committee believes effective crime intelligence could help in reducing the concerning levels of some crime categories and wants the management of SAPS to optimise their intelligence services.
Another element the Committee believes could be helpful in the fight against crime is management intervention that will put mechanisms in place to support struggling police stations.
Effective deployment of specialised units will also go a long way in addressing these challenges. In this regard, the Committee will call the SAPS to explain its strategy regarding the specialised units.
With regard to addressing the issue concerning the number of illegal firearms used in committing crime, the Committee said it will be important for the Police Minister to return to Parliament and brief the Committee on how exactly he intends implementing the amnesty.
On the issue of data integrity, the Committee implored SAPS to continue working with Statistics South Africa.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON POLICE, MR FRANCOIS BEUKMAN
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