A hot spotfor crime

Station commanders Brigadier Gerda van Niekerk, of Kraaifrontein, and Brigadier Andre van Dyk, of Bellville, at the Policing Needs session on September 3.

Kraaifontein once again had the highest murder and sexual offences rates compared to Kuils River and Brackenfell, according to the latest police crime statistics, and the area is ranked seventh among the country’s top 10 crime hot spots.

The statistics released by Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko on Friday September 2 are for the period of April 1 2015 to March 31 this year. During this period, there were a staggering 152 murders in Kraaifontein – 11 more than the 141 recorded in the 2014/2015 statistics.

Brackenfell recorded only six murders, while Kuils River had 22 over the same period.

Sexual offences in Kraaifontein dropped from 182 to 180, while attempted murder rose from 127 to 134. Cases of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, dropped from 534 to 483. Assault cases jumped from 840 to 880. Common (unarmed) robbery dropped from 271 to 251 , while armed robbery rose from 695 to 708.

The total number of contact crimes in Kraaifontein dropped slightly from 2 793 to 2 788.

Arson cases dropped from 27 to 22, while malicious damage to property cases rose from 522 to 578.

Non-residential burglaries dropped from 216 to 140 while residential ones went up from 1 096 to 1 175.

Theft of motor vehicles or motorbikes dropped from 231 to 219. Theft out of a motor vehicle, went up from 622 to 690. Stock theft increased from 10 to 12.

Theft not mentioned elsewhere rose to 1 987 from 1 906. Commercial crimes increased from 155 to 189, while shoplifting also went up from 206 to 235.

Residential armed robberies rose from 65 to 66 and non-residential ones dropped from 73 to 58.

Kraaifontein CPF chairman Mawethu Sila said most of the murders had taken place in gang-ridden Wallacedene and Scottsdene.

The Kraaifontein CPF will meet on Thursday September 8 to discuss the statistics and the community safety plan, which is to be implemented by CPFs that fall under the Tygerberg Cluster.

In Kuils River, the murder rate halved from 40 to 22. Sexual offences were also down slightly from 81 to 79.

Attempted murder cases dropped from 40 to 32 while cases of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm dropped from 240 to 230. Common assault cases rose from 512 to 605. Common robbery was up from 191 to 244, while armed robbery dropped from 429 to 407.

Total contact crimes rose from 1 533 to 1 6 22, the highest since April 2006.

In the property-related crimes category, Kuils River saw a slight drop in non-residential burglaries from 175 to 164. Residential burglaries also dropped from 1 024 to 915.

Theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles dropped from 190 to 184, as did theft out of motor vehicles, from 700 to 683.

Stock theft also decreased from seven to four.

In the “all theft not mentioned elsewhere” category the Kuils River precinct also saw a decrease from 1 687 to 1 417.

Commercial crimes increased from 181 to 203, while shoplifting decreased from 249 to 226.

Armed robberies at residences increased from 30 to 38 and dropped from 28 to 26 for non-residential ones.

Winston Davids, Kuils River CPF chairman, said despite the figures being high, the statistics were not a reflection of the reality because a lot of the cases were not reported. He said the high statistics should not solely be attributed to the police.

“It’s not their problem alone. We need to look at ourselves as a community. We need to sit down and rein in our (CPF and neighbourhood watches) structures and security companies and talk about the crimes.”

In Brackenfell, there were six murders, down from the seven reported in the previous statistics. There were 26 sexual offences recorded in 2014/15 and the same number was registered for 2015/16.

Cases of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm increased to 58 from 45. Common assault dropped to 178 from 189. Common robberies dropped to 50 from 55. and armed robberies from 106 to 85.

Non-residential burglaries were down from 238 to 195, while residential ones shot up from 396 to 465.

Theft of motor vehicles or motorcycles increased from 175 to 220 while theft out of motor vehicles increased from 471 to 553.

All theft “not mentioned elsewhere” increased from 1 155 to 1 192 Commercial crimes went from 224 to 193, while shoplifting went down from 349 to 291.

Residential robberies rose to 14 from 12 and non-residential ones dropped from 29 o 15.

Brackenfell CPF chairman Sean McCleland attributed the rising number of thefts out motor vehicles and house robberies in Brackenfell to the police’s listless approach to the community safety plan (CSP) that was submitted in December last year by the CPF. “The statistics reflect exactly what has been happening in Brackenfell. The adopted CSP should’ve been taken more seriously.” He said the police needed to go back to the drawing board to “plan strategically and deploy strategically”.