Communities part of crime reduction seen at ‘heavy-weight’ police stations
“Gauteng currently contributes 28,4% of the country’s crime while the crime in 2019/2020 dropped by 2,2% meaning over 10 400 counts less than in 2018/2019."
Close ties between Pretoria CBD and Sunnyside community members and police have seen a reduction in crime in the area, the Gauteng police commissioner has reported.
Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela together with his senior management team engaged with the Gauteng community policing board executive committee to strengthen and enhance relations between the police and residents on Saturday.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said central to this engagement was the police’s response to crime in the province.
Peters said Mawela presented the crime statistics of the 2019/2020 financial year, as well as the statistics of the first quarter (April to June) of the current financial year.
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“Gauteng currently contributes 28,4% of the country’s crime while the crime in 2019/2020 dropped by 2,2% meaning over 10 400 counts less than in 2018/2019.”
“This reduction is to a greater extent attributable to the partnerships and the integration of resources with other law enforcement agencies in the province, private security, neighbourhood watch structures, community patrollers, and other civil society structures.”
She said a number of successful intelligence-driven operations conducted regularly in Gauteng emanated from information and tip-offs received from community members.
“For instance, in relation to the fight against drugs, 13 clandestine drug laboratories were shut down and 35 suspects arrested in the last financial year.”
Mawela in his presentation, highlighted the value derived from the police and community collaboration, since his arrival in Gauteng in February 2019.
He said he engaged with communities serviced by the top 40 stations that contributed the most volumes of crime in the previous financial year.
“Subsequent commitments by those communities to work closely with their stations saw known crime heavy-weight stations reduce crime in their areas, such as Pretoria Central, and Sunnyside.”
The police and the CPF have reaffirmed their commitment to partner and strengthen relations towards eradicating crime and ensuring the safety of the residents of Gauteng and their properties.
Two Pretoria Central police stations were among the top 30 stations in the country when it came to reported serious crimes including arson, murder, rape, robbery and burglary.
According to the crime stats released by police minister Bheki Cele, Pretoria Central police station came in eighth on the top 30 stations in 2019/2020 for reported serious crimes even though there was a decrease from 8 941 cases to 7 866 in 2019/2020.
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Sunnyside police station was in the 17th spot having recorded 7 044 cases from 7 833 the previous year.
Gauteng recorded an overall of 463 509 serious crimes which was a decrease from the 474 005 recorded in 2018/2019.
Sunnyside police station also featured among the country’s top 30 stations with common assault cases.
The station had 727 cases reported in the year 2019/2020, an increase of 5.8% from 687 from the previous financial year.
Pretoria Central was among the top 30 stations in the country with the highest common robbery reported cases, 818, a decrease of 11.2% from the previous year.
Pretoria Central had the fourth-highest number of reported cash heists.
Cele said he was concerned over the province as it was among the dominating provinces in the top 30 stations, particularly in murder and rape.
“However, I am pleased with a decrease in overall crime stats,” he said.
“Fellow South Africans the crime statistics for 2019/2020 reflect the slowing down of the increase in violent crimes. Indeed we are not where we want to be, however, we are pleased with the improvements in most stubborn crime categories.”
The DA raised concerns over the competency of the police following the release of the crime statistics which saw Gauteng being the second-highest province with reported murders in the country.
According to the SAPS crime statistics, the overall number of murders in the province increased by 1.3% from 4 495 in 2018/2019, to 4 555 in 2019/2020.
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