There is a prevalence of under-reporting crime incidents to the police in the region, which remains a major concern.

Most homeowners who do not report crime appear to believe that reporting would be pointless, usually saying “the police could do nothing” and “the police won’t do anything about it”.

According to the South African Police Service’s annual crime statistics, crime categories that are more likely to be reported are murder (95.7%), car theft (88.9%), car hijacking (85.8%) and sexual offences (63.0%).

In general, property related crimes, such as housebreaking/burglary (51.8%), theft of personal property (34.2%) and theft of livestock (32.3%) were less likely to be reported as compared to contact-related crimes.

While the majority of South Africans consistently rank crime among their top concerns, second only to unemployment, people often report a crime not because they feel that this will result in an arrest, but because they need access to things like health services or insurance claims.

The release of the annual crime statistics are also often accompanied by a healthy dose of scepticism when it comes to the credibility of the report. This is because the statistics are based on the number of crimes reported at the relevant precincts – not the actual number of crimes committed.

Stats SA shows that when it comes to the reporting of crime there is 51 percent under-reporting of crimes such as burglary.

SAPS Umhlali spokesperson Captain Vinny Pillay urged residents to report all criminal activities to the police, including minor ones.

“When you have been a victim or a witness of a crime, you can report it by telephone, in person at a community service centre, at a police station, or to members of the police patrolling in the community.”

Offences can be reported at any police station, even if the crime was not com

itted within that station’s area. The docket will be transferred to the relevant police station and the person reporting the crime will be told when this happens.

What do you do if the police officer in the charge office refuses to open a case after you have been a victim of crime?

As reported in a recent article in the Courier, the issue of the public being turned away with only an incident report and not a case number has been highlighted in the past.

According to Captain Pillay no member of the public can be refused if they want to open a police case.

The police officer must provide the complainant with a valid reason for the case not to be opened.

Where a complainant is not satisfied with the reason, he or she should ask for a shift commander to attend.

However, when a case is being reported for insurance purposes only and no further investigation is required, there is no need for a case docket to be opened for further investigation.

An incident report (IS) can be made which is captured on the system and a reference number will be provided.

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