Crime against households declines

New findings by Stats SA show gradual downward trend

SOUTH Africans believe that crime is on the increase but Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has found that the crime against households has been declining since 2011. Based on police statistics, the SA Stats report “Exploring the extent of and circumstances surrounding housebreaking/ burglary and home robbery” stated that 385 191 cases of housebreaking, amounting to 50% of all crimes, were experienced by South African households in 2015/16.

“There were 110 933 reported cases of home robbery, which at 11.9% was the second-highest most common crime experienced, and was far more serious than housebreaking/burglary because the crime occurred while the inhabitants were at home.

“The reporting rate of home robberies to the police was significantly higher than that of housebreakings, possibly because home robbery is a more serious crime. The conviction rate among those arrested was 14.3% for housebreaking, and 22% for home robbery.

“An arrest is made in only one out of every five reported cases of housebreaking or home robbery. Only one in five people arrested for housebreaking was convicted, and one in three people arrested for home robbery was convicted.

“Households that did not secure the arrest of perpetrators after reporting the housebreaking to the police were more likely to be dissatisfied with the police compared with those where perpetrators were arrested,” the report stated.

SA Stats estimated that 385 191 cases were not reported to the police.

Cheslyn Steenberg from Kensington Community Policing Forum said that even though the police lacked the resources to respond timeously to burglaries and robberies, it was important for the community to work with them to supply the correct information so that when the cases got to court, there would be a conviction.

Considered to be crimes of victimisation, the Western Cape experienced the most incidents of crimes against households at over 11.9 percent, while this was in decline since 2011, it was still higher than Eastern Cape where the housebreaking/home robbery cases were on the increase in 2015/16.