As we have recently learned last week when Police Minister, Bheki Cele released the crime stats for 2017/18 most South Africans were shocked that murder was increased.
According to the Wahl Bartmann, CEO of Fidelity Security Group, the stats for contact crimes, which include murder, attempted murder, assault with grievous bodily harm, common assault, common robbery, robbery aggravating and sexual assault were also released.
Bartmann said it was concerning to see 4 of the 10 top stations for contact crime sitting in Gauteng accounting for 170 640 of the national reported cases.
He said the stats many homeowners worrying about whether they or their property are likely to be a target of violence or threatening “contact crime”.
He noted that within the Fidelity ADT footprint over the same time period the two most common crimes included armed robbery and house break and theft, although encouragingly Fidelity ADT has actually seen decrease in the latter from 3 420 incidents in 2016/2017 to 2919 in 2017/2018.
“Armed robberies had however also increased slightly in line with the broader stats. The peak times for contact crimes is between 6am and 1pm and then again from 6pm to 10pm.
“We can see a pattern when people leave the house and then return again. Evening crime is greater in summer when people are more relaxed and leave windows and doors open.
“This makes them easy targets. People also entertain more during the summer months and this is always a risk if the correct security protocols are not followed,” he said.
Bartmann said it is critical in light of the shortage of manpower with the South African Police Service that private security works hand in hand with both the communities and the SAPS to get ahead of this crime curve.
“In this regard we have tightened up our sector protocols and communication and, together with the SAPS, are working hard to create a much stronger “informer” and intelligence network. Technology is also playing a key role in being able to proactively predict trends and this is evolving all the time,” he said.
Bartmann it during this time that crime tends to escalate,”It is important for everyone to stay alert and for the community to work closely together over the next three months,” he said.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za (please remember to include your contact details in the email) or phone us on 011 693 3671.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
