Call crime busters!

CCORDING to statistician-general, Dr Pali Lehohla, over the past five years South African households experienced a sharp decline in home robberies and housebreakings, from 931 000 in 2010 to 807 000 in 2015/16.

Theft of personal property, said Lehohla, also saw a steady decline from 889 000 in 2011 to 712 000.

Yet, the survey found that South Africans still believe violent and property crime is on the rise and do not feel safe to walk alone in parks or allow their children to play freely in their neighbourhoods.

Asked about their opinions on crime, they thought housebreakings and home robberies were the most common and feared crimes, said Lehohla.

He added that the prevalence of actual burglaries essentially remained unchanged, at about 647 000 cases.

“About 712 000 (2%) of individuals experienced theft of their personal property, while 254 000 (0.7%) experienced assault in 2015/16.

“Crime reporting rates varied a lot depending on the type of crime from 95% in the case of murder to 17.3% in the case of crop theft.”

Lehohla said most of the households said they did not report crime incidents to the police because they believed the police could not, or would not do anything.

“The survey showed declining trends in the households’ levels of satisfaction with the police and courts between 2010 and 2015/16.

“In 2011, an estimated 64.2% of households were satisfied with the police in their area, while about 58.8% were satisfied with the police in 2015/16.”

He said the decline in satisfaction with the police was most severe in the Western Cape, from 71.3% in 2011 to 57.1% in 2015/16.

“Those who were satisfied with the courts thought that courts passed appropriate sentences, while those who were satisfied with the police were of the opinion that the police were gender and disability-sensitive and tolerant. The survey also provides evidence of a decline in police visibility during the last five years.”

From 2011 to 2015/16, a noticeable decline was observed in the percentage of people who felt safe walking alone, both during the day or when it was dark, while throughout the period the majority felt safer walking during the day than in darkness.

“Slightly more than a third of households felt safe walking alone in their area.

“As a result of fear of crime, households in South Africa take measures to protect themselves and their property.”

More than half of the households took physical protection measures for their homes and slightly more than a third of vehicle owners took protection measures for their vehicles.

Asked about what they perceived to be the motive for perpetrators committing property crimes, more than three-quarters of households thought property crimes were committed because of drug-related motives.

Institute of Security Studies Crime Hub manager Lizette Lancaster said they had not seen decreases in house robberies or murders in the past five years.

“It’s slightly misleading that housebreaking and home robberies were clustered together overall. We are talking of very different types of categories here.”

Lancaster said housebreaking was a property crime while home robbery often occurred with a threat to human life, trauma and physical violence.

“About 250 000 housebreakings were reported to police in 2015/16, as opposed to just under 21 000 home robberies.”