Residential burglaries and theft remain the dominant crimes in Grahamstown (Makhanda) according to the crime statistics released this week. ‘Crime situation in RSA twelve months 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018’ compiled by the South African Police Service and Stats SA covers crimes that were reported in that period.
The crimes are ordered according to 21 categories. Of these, 17 are crimes reported by the public and four are ‘Crime detected as a result of police action’.
In summary, the document reports a 4.4% drop in crimes reported by the public, nationally.
The statistics do not indicate whether increases and decreases are as a result of a change in reporting, policing or criminal behaviour.
Likewise, with police-reported crimes, an increase doesn’t necessarily mean that crimes in these categories have increased. It could mean that police have been more active in detecting those crimes.
Although all have shown a drop of incidents since last year, the top five crimes in Grahamstown (Makhanda) remain (in order) Burglary (residential); All theft not mentioned elsewhere; Common assault; Assault with intention to commit grievous bodily harm; Theft out of or from motor vehicle.
Crimes that have increased since last year are shoplifting; illegal possession of firearms; and murder.
Burglary (non-residential) reported at Joza Police Station decreased from 23 to 21, but reports to Grahamstown Police Station increased from 69 to 87.
In the category ‘Crime detected as a result of police action’, drug-related crime reported at the Grahamstown police Station rose by 33.7% since last year – from 83 reported cases to 111. At Joza it was 197 to 199 – two more cases.
This category in the Eastern Cape has also seen a steady climb in cases. The 17 710 cases recorded last year rose to 18 936 this year (6.9%).
Nationally, the rise in drug-related crime reported as a result of police action follows the trend of a steady increase that usually sits around 10 000 more cases than the previous year. In this report, it jumps by 30 858 cases – from – from 292 689 to 323 547 in the past year (10.5%).
This is one of four categories in the annual report that fall under ‘Crime detected as a result of police action’. The others are Illegal possession of firearms and ammunition; driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; and sexual offences detected as a result of police action.
NOW READ: ‘The killer on our street – Drugs and Crime in Grahamstown’: Pages 7-10
READ THE FULL 2017/2018 SA CRIME STATS REPORT HERE:
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