SA’S HIJACK CAPITAL

Gauteng tops the list

GAUTENG is once again the carjacking capital of South Africa, experts say, because police have lost their way because of political interference and a lack of focus.

Yesterday, the SAPS top brass presented to Parliament the crime statistics from April to December 31, 2016. At a national level, the figures are positive, murder had decreased by 0.1%, contacts crimes by 1.9% and sexual offences by 6.35%

However, Gauteng, in that ninemonth period saw well over 3 000 murders, with an increase of 3.7% even compared to the previous year.

The increases in so called trio crimes, carjackings, house and business robberies, in Gauteng are the most concerning to experts.

There were a total of 6 429 cases of hijacking reported to police in a 16.3% increase. Carjackings in that period were up by 14.9% in the province, while robberies at residential properties was up 5.3%.

Business robberies in Gauteng had increased by 6.5%.

Criminologist Professor Rudolph Zinn of Unisa said this increase, in particular of car hijackings, was what Gauteng was experiencing a decade ago.

“What is worrying is that these kinds of crimes are very violent and they leave people traumatised,” said Zinn. “This requires a bigger policing effort.”

Gareth Newham of the Institute for Security Studies, added that unlike other categories of crimes, trio offences can be easily combatted by the right police action.

“Your community has to rely on police to reduce robbery, robbers only stop if they are either arrested or are shot.”

The right police action, said Newham, is the use of specialised units working closely with SAPS crime intelligence.

“They did this in Gauteng between 2009 and 2011 and it was successful, carjacking was reduced by 32%, house robberies 20% and business robberies by 19%.”

It is a strategy that has worked around the world, in cities like New York and Bogota in Colombia.

Another important strategy, that worked in reducing trio crimes back then, said Zinn was the introduction of specialised courts, with prosecutors with expertise in these types of crimes.

Zinn said the emphasis was in targeting the syndicates.

“The question police need to be asking is one they asked themselves a decade ago and that is how are we going to stop this,” said Zinn.