The release of the latest crime stats by the Minister of Police  has been welcomed by the KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni. “It is pleasing to note that despite the numerous challenges we experienced during the past financial year, police and other law enforcement agencies have been able to continue to reduce most crimes in the Province. We will still be presenting the Crime Statistics for KwaZulu-Natal to the Provincial legislature and will only then be in a position to brief the media in detail,” she said.

The latest crime statics indicate that for the 2014/2015 financial year contact crimes in the KwaZulu-Natal were reduced by 3.2%. During the same period contact related crimes showed a reduction of 2.5% whilst property crimes were reduced by 1.6%. Other serious crimes showed a reduction of 3.6% whilst crimes dependent on police action continued on a positive trend showing an increase of 0.8%. Total trio crimes in the province showed a reduction of 1.8%.

“During her briefing, the National Commissioner, General Riah Phiyega indicated that KwaZulu-Natal was one of the top three performing provinces in the country in terms of crime reduction, during the 2014/2015 financial year. Whilst we welcome the reduction in crime, we acknowledged that a lot still needs to be done for us to ensure that our communities are and feel safe. I am certain that with the multi-disciplinary approach in fighting crime and the increased participation by members of the community to address the root causes of crime, we can do even better in the months to come,” she added.

Stats from police station specific to our area will be available soon.