The #AmINext protests last week and this week have shone a spotlight not only on the high rates of sexual assault and murder in South Africa, but also on the efficiency and competency of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

This might have played a part in why they decided to release their 2019 crime stats, which show an overall decrease in recorded crimes – 2,01 million crimes were recorded in 2019, down from the 2,09 million recorded in 2018.

They were also proud to report that the massive decline in overall crime has a lot to do with police action like roadblocks and raids. We’re all familiar with the measures being taken to police drunk driving.

The decriminalisation of marijuana also played a part in lowering the crime stats pertaining to illegal drug use and possession.

So while the roads are becoming somewhat safer (we hope), and you can generally relax when smoking a joint in your house, that doesn’t change the fact that violent crime is on the rise, and there are some worrying correlations between a lack of police action in certain areas and the effect that this has on others.

For example, according to BusinessTech, murder increased by 3,4% and the weapon most likely to be used is a gun. At the same time, there was a drop in the number of arrests made relating to illegal firearms.

Let’s take a closer look at the rest of the stats. These are the main categories under consideration:

• Contact crimes include murder, attempted murder and sexual offences, as well as common assault and robbery.
• Contact-related crimes include arson and malicious injury to property.
• Other serious crimes include commercial crime, shop-lifting and all other types of theft – while aggravated robbery includes hijackings, robbery at residences and cash-in-transit heists and bank robberies.
• Crimes detected as a result of police action cover crimes discovered by active policing, such as road-blocks and raids. Categories covered by this are the illegal possession of firearms, DUI or driving under the influence (of drugs or alcohol); and the use, possession or trade of illegal drugs.

Over to the stats:

BusinessTech

The SAPS noted that 60% of all murders happened on a weekend between 9PM and 3AM. If you include Monday, the percentage jumps to 70% of all murders.

In terms of sexual offences, the country has seen another drastic increase in reported crimes, up 4.6% from last year. However, sexual offences detected as a result of police action has also seen a big climb, up 19%, showing active policing in this specific area.

The biggest jump in crime was seen in commercial crime, which was up 14.4%.

Crimes are counted per charge, not per docket, as one docket may contain many charges.

For a table that breaks these numbers down in terms of specific crimes, go here.

BusinessTech also looked into what the crime stats reveal about which areas are the most dangerous in the country.

As part of the presented data, the SAPS also broke down the police stations which recorded the highest levels of crime, with Cape Town central coming in as the most crime-ridden region, with 13,747 reported crimes – although down 10.9% from last year.

It should also be noted that a single police station could service multiple areas depending on its location.

What follows is a list of the top 10 most crime-ridden areas in South Africa:

BusinessTech

We’re also going to shine a spotlight on crimes against women and children, with this from IOL:

The number of women killed in 2018/19 stood at 2771 (down 2.9%), translating to seven women being murdered ever day. The number of reported sexual offences stood at 24,387 (down 3.8%). The number of women who were victims of attempted murder, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and assault stood at 1,184 (down 11.8%),  7815 (down 3.3%), and 10,829 (down 3.7%), respectively…

The number of children killed in South Africa increased to 1014 (up 2.9%), meaning about 3 children die every day as a result of murder.

Sexual offences against children accounted for 24,387 (up 3.8%) of the reported crimes against minors, while 1,184 children were the victims of attempted murder (up 11.8%).

Police Minister Bheki Cele touted the SAPS success rate in securing 658 life sentences during the 2018/19 year for rape. Sorry, but we’re going to see those numbers increase drastically before we consider the SAPS anywhere near successful

[sources:businesstech&businesstech&iol]