Brakpan organisations came together at the Rio Rooms at Carnival City on May 27 to discuss crime and law enforcement strategies at the Brakpan SAPS’ monthly stakeholder meeting.

The meeting was led by Brakpan SAPS station commander Brigadier Johanna Ngoma.

With initial discussions focusing on crimes that are a concern, it was noted that many incidents are not reported to the police, resulting in skewed statistics and incomplete crime intelligence.

Charl Bronkhorst said that people also tend not to open cases of vehicle theft once their vehicles have been recovered.

It was stated that the public needs to open cases with SAPS regardless of the outcome, so they have a truer reflection of crime in town.

Drummond Doig noted that there was a single-cab bakkie with orange lights pulling people over, causing hijacking fears.

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He said he was informed by the EMPD that the vehicle is an EMPD vehicle on loan from the roads department.

Following this, it was noted that the lack of an EMPD vehicle in the Brakpan precinct is a major concern, which Doig has written to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi about.

He noted that people are reporting by-law infringements but not getting any response from the EMPD, as they don’t have vehicles.

Before discussions continued, Captain Pieter Booysen from the local crime intelligence office provided an overview of crimes in Brakpan from the beginning of the year to May 25.

Common assault and common robbery are up by 11%, while robbery with aggravating circumstances is up 66% compared to the previous year.

Attempted common robbery and rape each increased by one case.

Business burglaries are up 63%, theft of motor vehicles are up 9%, attempted business burglaries are up by one case, and attempted theft of motor vehicles is up 75%.

Malicious damage to property is up 19%, while drug-related crimes are down 9%, and other sexual offences are down 100%.

Dangerous weapon crimes are down 50%, ammunition and arms crimes are down 9%, and driving offences are down 24%.

Illegal possession of stolen property is down 10%.

Ngoma thanked Booysen for the crime overview and said, “At the end of the day, even if there is improvement, crime is affecting people. I just want to also thank our stakeholders. If it wasn’t for you, the picture would have been worse.”

She noted that a lot of convictions are missed because victims don’t preserve evidence.

“Normally, the driver (of a stolen vehicle) comes to the station after the car has been fixed, and there’s no way that fingerprints can be detected. Rather go to the police before fixing your car,” she said.

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Warrant officere Gideon Hattingh from the Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) that services 48 police stations in Gauteng with forensic evidence collection and testing, spoke about evidence handling to ensure convictions.

“I know most people here are first responders. Remember, if you enter a scene, you take everyone you know onto the scene with you, and leave them there,” he said, referencing trace evidence like hair, skin cells and fibres that could contaminate a scene.

“Our purpose as first responders is to protect the scene. Do your job first, if you are paramedics and need to treat a victim, but be vigilant about what you leave behind,” he explained.

He explained that anyone responding to a scene has to first cordon off the scene before doing anything else, put on personal protective equipment to minimise evidence contamination, and establish a single route through the scene that will do the least damage to the evidence.

Everyone has to follow this route.

He noted that members of the SAPS tend to ignore log sheets, which document who enters a scene, when they arrive, and when they exit; records that are important evidence in court.

According to him, sometimes high-ranking members attempt to overrule the person in charge of the scene regarding log sheets or established procedures for managing the scene, which can create difficulties for prosecution.

He explained that first responders need to change the context of the scene as little as possible when safeguarding it, only moving weapons and other dangerous objects just out of the way of any activity.

With discussions moving onto illegal mining, Doig pointed out that informal settlements hide a lot of illegal mining activity. He suggested that targeting these settlements would go a long way towards reducing illegal mining.

Bronkhorst moved on to tampering with infrastructure, noting that when security workers patrolling or attending to calls come across people who are stealing cables or components out of breaker boxes, the thieves tend to be very violent and armed with guns, often firing on the workers.

Doig noted that they not only strip the boxes but also intentionally use them to trip the power for an entire area. It seems they are aware that council electricians can’t work more than a certain number of overtime hours a month.

“They target the boxes late in the month, so the power is out in the area for the entire night, leaving cables ripe for the picking for hours.”