The Limpopo police seemingly have no idea of what is going on in their province when it comes to existing crime trends, how to address them and even more importantly, how to prevent these crimes in future.
This became clear yesterday (Wednesday) morning when recently-appointed provincial police commissioner Lt Gen Fannie Masemola presented the latest crime statistics covering the period April 2012 to March 2013 at a press conference. Also present at the press conference was safety, security and liaison MEC Joyce Mashamba.
Review was earlier briefed by provincial police spokesperson, Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi, that Masemola would analyse the statistics, explain why certain crimes had increased, and present a way forward to deal with crime in Limpopo.
However, Masemola merely flitted through a presentation already released last week by the national police, reading the information on each slide and skipping slides containing information such as the fact that Limpopo is the province with the highest drug-related crime level in the country.
The province has shown an approximate increase of 46% in drug-related crime for the period under review. Residents are obviously feeling insecure when it comes to trusting the police to protect them, with the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition having increased by a shocking 21,3%.
Other crimes that have increased and are a cause for concern to every resident of the province include:
• Sexual offences increased by 15,8%.
• Commercial crime increased by 17,3%.
• Carjacking increased by 40,6%.
On a more positive note certain crimes decreased as follows:
• Common robbery declined by 10%.
• Some 33,2% more crimes were detected as a result of police work.
The accuracy of these statistics was questioned in several quarters including by the South African Police Union (Sapu) and the DA Limpopo.
Sapu provincial secretary, Solly Bulala said the true situation regarding crime would never be known to the public. He referred to incidents of statistics allegedly being manipulated on police station level in the past.
“If this could be done then, it stands to reason that it could still be happening,” he said.
DA Limpopo leader Jacques Smalle, questioned the police’s new method of statistic analysis, saying that this method had not been tested or verified as yet in some spheres.
“The statistics are a matter of interpretation and can be made to look as if the situation is not as serious as it really is.”
He said in his experience, many cases were not opened correctly at various police stations with cases often getting “lost”. “This type of thing could ultimately affect the big picture,” he said.
Masemola did not present any real solution regarding the situation. He said newly-trained police officials were being made “street ready”, and would be multi-skilled with a broad know-ledge of different crimes.
Mashamba congratulated the police for their sterling work in reducing crime and also failed to mention those crimes that had increased.
“We are turning the tide on crime in Limpopo,” was her comment.
