We need to talk about alcohol, Cele says in crime stats presentation

South Africa has been experiencing a “never seen before crime holiday” during the Covid-19 lockdown, Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Friday in unveiling the crime statistics for April to June.

In April the country was still under Level 5 hard lockdown, which was reflected in the number of crimes dropping significantly, while numbers started rising again in June, when lockdown was eased to Level 3.

In fact, the only crimes that rose were burglaries at non-residential premises at 9.1%, in this case at schools and bottle stores, Cele said.

Stock theft took a different trajectory than other crimes and rose in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

“Maintaining high-density visibility during a pandemic has come at a high cost. Despite our best efforts to keep the virus at bay by wearing protective equipment, sanitizing our hands, vehicles and work stations and by maintaining social distancing while enforcing the law, over 14 thousand (14 182) of our members tested positive for Covid-19. The majority of these infections occurred when the officers were in the front lines,” Cele said.

He revealed that 163 police officers had died from the virus, while 9 563 had recovered.

“To date, 298 252 people have been arrested and charged with contraventions of the Disaster Management Act.
181 579 were released on warning to appear before a court. 28 337 of those arrested were found guilty of violations ranging from liquor, gathering, transport, business and cross-border related offences.

“Unfortunately most of the people arrested will come out with criminal records and it is not our aim to criminalize South Africans. This is why the minister of justice and correctional services is looking at this issue,” Cele said.

“Of course we know that the decreased crime levels were impacted largely by the fact that South Africans heeded the call to stay at home. And it goes without saying that the conditions for crime to thrive were not normal. There were also more boots on the ground to ensure high police visibility and mass adherence to the Disaster Management Act.”

“These official figures also show a reduction in crimes committed against women and children during stage four and five of the lockdown. However, the low numbers of domestic abuse and sexual offences reported cases could have been due to some women not being able to escape their abusers and could not report crimes committed against them.

“In this regard, the SAPS will continue to monitor the reporting of such cases and verify whether the reduction was as a result to non-reporting due to the lockdown. This will be done by comparing the dates of reporting with the dates of which the crime was committed.

“It is equally important to acknowledge that the unavailability of alcohol also had a role to play. This is evident in the decreased numbers of cases of contact crimes which plummeted by 37.4%.

“This means there were 53 891 less cases of murder, attempted murder, assault GBH, common robbery and common assault reported compared to the same reporting period last year.

“The drop in crime cases is also demonstrated by a 29.4% decline in contact-related crimes made up of arson and malicious damage to property.

“During this time, South Africans were also safer in their homes. Burglaries at residential premises dropped by over 30% whilst on the other hand burglary at non-residential premises increased by 9.1%. Worryingly, there has been an increased number of attacks on schools and liquor outlets during this time.

“2 692 burglaries were reported at educational premises and 1 246 liquor outlets were targeted. A total of 1 186 suspects have been arrested for these crimes.

“There has also been a big drop in the number of sexual offences, recording a 39.7% drop on crimes such as rape and sexual assault. A 40.4% decrease in the number of rape cases were reported during the three months,” Cele said.

“All top 30 stations that are reporting high levels of assault with intent to cause GBH too recorded drops in numbers. Common assault numbers declined from April and May while the country was under Level 4 and 5, but the gap started to close on the 1 June when the country was eased into level 3 of the lockdown.

“This is also the same time when more people returned to work, some places of leisure reopened and the alcohol ban was lifted.

“There are certainly many lessons to be learnt from these recent figures as the SAPS, and how we must channel resources where they are needed most in an effort to sustain these low numbers.

“But it is also time we as a country start having a frank and open discussion about alcohol and the real effect it has on society. The evidence is clear from these figures that the absence of alcohol leads to safer communities,” Cele said.

“A total of 163 officers were arrested from the start of lockdown from violating the very same lockdown regulations they were meant to enforce. We are also hopeful that the Police Independent Investigative Directorate will bring finality, in its investigations into allegations of police brutality including allegations of death at the hands of SAPS and armed forces,” Cele concluded.

After the presentation, in answering a question about  “a frank discussion about alcohol”, the police minister said this had nothing to do with banning alcohol, but rather South Africans’ use of alcohol.

“We are no. 6 in the world in terms of alcohol consumption. We can sit down and discuss, not to ban alcohol, but to make better use of alcohol. Everybody, including government, must work together on this.

“Shebeens operate at 4am while everybody around them are complaining. Operating hours should be agreed upon by everybody and be enforced, for instance. Or youths of 15 who get served alcohol in shebeens and other places – this is against the law and should be enforced.

“Also the way we drink – if people don’t drink in a measured way, it’s easier to fight, rape or murder. But communities, civil society and government will have to work together on ways to regulate this,” Cele said.

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