Work with the police – premier
WHILE incidents of crime in the Northern Cape have decreased, Premier Sylvia Lucas has appealed for more co-operation between the police and communities to ensure the safety of all communities.
The provincial crime statistics for the period from April 1 2017 to March 31 2018 were released during a media briefing at the Premier’s Office yesterday.
Lucas said the decrease in crime was a move in the right direction and something the Province should be proud of.
However, she added that more still needed to be done to improve the relationship between communities in the Northern Cape and the police.
“We will never be satisfied until we can guarantee the safety of all our communities. However, we have seen that many communities no longer trust the police. We need to establish why that relationship has broken down.
“Some communities complain that the police do not react fast enough to complaints. There are also police officials who have disgraced the service. We are satisfied that the majority of police officers are doing well, but we want people in the Northern Cape to feel safe when they see someone in a blue uniform,” said Lucas.
She called on community members to also play their part in the fight against crime.
“Some of our communities are complicit. Some are harbouring criminals. We have many communities who blame foreign nationals for crime, yet they hire out their houses and business to these same foreign nationals.
“People blame the police, but do not take any responsibility for the part they play. We want everyone to live in peace, but we cannot achieve this unless we work in partnership with law enforcement authorities and also abide by the laws,” said Lucas.
Captain Vanessa Woodbridge, who presented the statistics, said contact crimes, which include murder, rape and attempted rape, have decreased.
“Murders have decreased from 344 to 340 for this financial year. Rapes have decreased from 1 143 to 1 100. That is 43 less cases. Attempted rape cases have also decreased from 154 to 130.
“The social behaviour of society and the current economic situation were found to be the main contributors towards contact crimes.
“The highest reporting time frames for murder were between midnight and 3am, where 18.8% of cases were reported. Between 9pm until midnight, 18.3% cases were reported while 15.9% cases were reported between 6pm and 8pm,” said Woodridge.
She added that the majority of murders occurred over the weekend while social behaviour was also a contributing factor.
“From Fridays to Sundays, 70.7% of the cases were reported. This points to social or violent behaviour and the misuse of alcohol over the weekends,” she said.
According to Woodbridge, murders involving men were the highest. “The percentage for murder incidents among adult men is 74.5% while adult women victims is 20%. The percentage of children victims was recorded at 5.5%.”
Woodbridge said in many of the cases the victim was known to the perpetrator. “In 71.3% of reported murder cases, the suspects were known to the victims.
“In cases where the suspect and victim relationship was specified, 45.3% were family members while 41.5% were either boyfriends or girlfriends.”
She said domestic disputes were one of the contributing factors to murders involving lovers.
“In 56.8% of murders the suspect and victim were arguing or fighting prior to the incident. In 13.3% of the cases, contributing factors included jealousy, love triangles, revenge, self-defence and vigilantism,” she said.
Rape incidents were also mostly reported over weekends.
“From Friday until Sunday 63.6% of rape incidents were reported, with Saturdays topping the list at 25.1%.
Most of the incidents were reported between 9pm and midnight, with most of the victims during this period being women between the ages of 18 and 28 years.
“In 82% of reported cases the suspect and victim were known to each other. In incidents where the relation between the suspect and the victim were specified, 77.9% of the suspects were family members, like a brother, uncle, cousins, stepfathers or husbands.
“In 22.1% cases of specified suspects, they were ex-boyfriends, friends, family friends, neighbours, fellow prisoners, teachers, colleagues or tenants who were sharing a house with the implicated victims,” she added.
Woodbridge said that contrary to belief, most of the rape incidents occurred in private areas.
“More than 70% of rape incidents occurred within private residences or inside buildings.”
‘More needs to be done to improve the relationship between communities and the police’