Crime stats show an increase in copper theft

Crime stats showed an increase between February and March at the Port Alfred Rapid Rural Response and the Community Policing Forum (CPF) meeting at the Port Alfred Police station on Tuesday afternoon.

Although crime in general indicated an increase, housebreaking showed a decline over the last two months.

In the stats it was also shown that Sector 3A (East Bank) has been the busiest sector for the past month, and that there had been an increase in property crimes.

CPF chairman George Galbraith expressed concern over the spike in copper theft over the past couple of months. Based on cases that were reported, the theft of copper in the areas has shown a drastic increase.

“There has been an increase in copper theft, so much so that the police have been put under pressure by the community to stop the crime by doing thorough investigations, but we have a special action plan put into place to stop this once and for all, we also need to ask the community to be our eyes and ears. Please report any suspicious movements in the community,” Galbraith said.

Head of detectives Lt Colonel Yogan Reddy reported that there had been a number of arrests made in the past months and a murder case between a girlfriend and boyfriend. The murder accused was due to make a statement at the station on Tuesday afternoon.

“In the arrests made there will be court appearances soon. We are still trying to make efforts to curb the housebreaking cases as they have also been our main priority as well in all of the sectors,” Reddy said.

MultiSecurity reported a fairly busy month with a number of reports and arrests made. There were also quite a number of phone-ins, of which some were to report sightings of suspects. They also reported that theft of copper is an ongoing problem.

It was also discussed in the meeting that the increase in certain crimes was caused by political unrest and protest actions were inflating crime stats, particularly in cases of malicious damage to property and arson. It was also highlighted that during load shedding hours criminals take advantage and break into properties. Neighbourhood watches were applauded for doing a good job in the communities, working closely with the police.

During the Easter weekend the town will be full of visitors, and people are urged to be wary of their surroundings. The next CPF meeting will be held on May 21.