Murder in SA down – police

THE COUNTRY’S murder rate dropped for the first three quarters of the 2016/17 financial year compared to the same period last year, acting national commissioner Khomotso Phahlane said yesterday.

“We have realised a 2.3 percent decrease in as far as murder is concerned, compared to an 8.8 percent increase in the 2015/16 financial year at the end of quarter three,” Phahlane said. During this period, 712 people were arrested for murder, while 419 were arrested for attempted murder.

Overall, contact crimes decreased by 5.3 percent compared to 2015/16, contract-related crimes were down by 5.4 percent, property-related crimes by 2.2 percent and other serious crimes by 5.3 percent.

Police remain concerned about so-called trio crimes – carjackings, business robberies and robberies at private residences. During the past year, hijackings saw the biggest increase of 14.3 percent.

Phahlane indicated this trend continued during the current financial year, although he declined to give figures. “Even during the period we are reporting… car hijackings have increased. It is an area we are focusing on,” he said.

There was a marked increase in crimes detected as a result of police action, which Phahlane believes was a result of successful policing of drug-related crimes, the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

There were 99 266 crimes detected as a result of police action in quarter three of 2016/17, an increase of 8.4 percent when compared to the coresponding period last year.

Police arrested 83 479 from October 1 to December 31 during 705 639 police operations. Over two million searches were conducted during this time, resulting in the confiscation of 1 060 firearms, 8 691 rounds of ammunition, while 669 vehicles were seized.

The Western Cape led with the number of arrests at 19 625, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 16 760, and Gauteng with 10 412. KZN led with the most firearm (302), ammunition (2 699), vehicle (241) and explosive (six) seizures.

Mpumalanga police confiscated more than 3.3 million grams of drugs, followed by the Cape with 2.2 million grams. However, when it came to the amount of units (tablets) confiscated, the Western Cape was far ahead of other provinces, with the number of mandrax tablets seized alone totalling more than half a million (538 377).

Phahlane attributed the improvement in the statistics to, among others, high-visibility policing, targeted deployments and operations, intelligence-driven operations, and hands-on command by senior managers in the SA Police Service. – ANA