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Tuesday 25 September 2012
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Visibility remains key TASMIN CUPIDO AND NURENE JASSIEM-MARCUS
THE recently-released crime statistics of Grassy Park Police Station is a reflection of the lack of police visibility in the precinct.
POKER FACE: Provincial police commissioner LieutenantGeneral Arno Lamoer speaks at a press conference after national Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa released the crime statistics at Parliament on Thursday. Photo: Edrea du Toit/Photo24 month period, the same number as the previous period. And, despite a decline, an alarming statistic is also that of common assault from 495 to 482. People’s Post contacted Grassy Park police deputy station commander, LieutenantColonel Christian Esau, for comment, who indicated he had not seen the statistics and declined to comment. In the Philippi precinct all contact crimes increased with the exception of common assaults which decreased to 387 from 402 during the previous year. Sexual crimes registered in this precinct increased by 10 to 87 while a total of 35 murders were reported compared to 31 the previous year.
Commercial crimes saw a staggering increase from 23 to 41 reported incidents while common theft decreased to 1 172 from 1 230. Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Hector, Acting Station Commander at Philippi police, says he is very pleased with the increase in illegal possession of firearms and ammunition from 65 to 102. “This means we have removed more illegal weapons from the streets and that our policemen are patrolling.” Hector says, however, he believes the crime rate can decrease more significantly if the police win back the community’s trust. “We need to work hard to earn the community’s trust. If the community trusts
the police they will feel safer and we will also be able to have a better conviction rate because the information from the community will be more forthcoming,” he says. Hector adds that in most cases small items such as cellphones, food and clothing are stolen during burglaries which is an indication that the perpetrators are most likely using the stolen goods to sustain themselves or their drug habit.
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This is the view of Grassy Park Community Police Forum (CPF) spokesperson Philip Bam. The crime statistics, from April 2011 to March 2012, of police stations across the country were released by the Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa on Thursday. Property-related crimes remain a cause of concern for the precinct. While there was a decline in reported cases of business burglaries (191 to 137) as well as house burglaries (755 to 709), Bam believes the number of cases could be prevented with “active patrolling”. “We certainly appreciate the work the police are doing, but are concerned that there is more statistic chasing, rather than focusing on crime prevention,” he said. “While the police do patrol, they are not actively looking for crime – they should always be on the look-out for criminal activity. Our concern is that they are operating as a reactive unit (by) reacting to crime rather than preventing it.” In the categories for crimes heavily dependent on police action, drug-related crimes showed in increase (1 640 to 1 810) – more cases were opened during the recorded period. A concerning statistic is the decline in cases opened for the possession of illegal firearms and ammunition. Bam commented that, while the statistics do not show this, most crimes are drug-related. “Making 50 arrests for one dagga stop doesn’t solve the drug problem. The drug pedlars are still moving around, while we seem to be punishing the drug user,” he said. “In the sectors where the police are the most active, we have noticed many successes. Where they have stop-and-search operations, they find the drugs and the illegal firearms.” The Grassy Park precinct statistics again showed a total of 15 murders for the 12-
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