For the first time in quite a while there seems to be some positive movement on crime. Not only that, but the report seems to be widely accepted as being factual and unmanipulated. Murders are down (by 8.6 percent) and so are sexual offences (by 2182 cases).
Not likely!!! The fact of the matter is that there were some unussual factors that came into play:
The world cup being the most notable.
- For a full month all police force (SAPS & Metro) members had leave canceled. It was an amazing sight to see visible policing in the form of cops on the beat; patrol cars on the highway; cops on bicycle; cops on horses. This certainly had an impact.
- Another spin off was that there was a real spirit of Ubuntu that brought everyone together - this was tangible and even spread to check out counters and forecourts.
- Then, I guess the criminals also love soccer when not hitting little old ladies over the head with a brick, so they were probably cudled up at home watching Footie on the newly aquired 54 inch Plasma, being run off the illegal Eskom connection.
What else has changed?
Well, with the ex-head of SAPS (And Interpol official) Jackie Selebi fighting to sidestep a well earned sojourn (he's been sentanced to 15 years) in one of the State hotels, the new comissioner (Bheki Cele) seems to have breathed a bit of life into a fading force.
Here are the latest stats:
Murder: 16 834
Assault: 402 577
Burglaries and robberies: 361 670
Sexual offences: 68 332
Child Abuse: 4014
Kidnapping: 2889
Shoplifting: 88 634
Arson: 6701
Driving under the influence: 62 939
What do you think?
Could this be a trend?
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