The Great Crime Debate

[Dave A]

Sort of related. SARS is cracking down on illegal imports.

South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials confiscated goods worth thousands of rands from 20 shops in Cape Town's China city during a raid for illegally imported goods, spokesperson Thami Hlobo said.

"Some 47 shops at China city in Ottery were inspected and officials initially detained goods on site from 27 shops because of failure of shop-owners to provide relevant documents. After giving shop owners time to go get the necessary documents seven shops were re-opened," said Hlobo.

He said their intention was to try and clamp down on illegal imports and create a space for local manufacturers.

"These illegal imports have a negative impact on the local industry. We have given 20 owners goods without proper documents 14 days to show us the documents or forfeit their goods."
full story from IOL here

[Dave A]

This story shows that CCTV certainly helps.

Thanks to CCTV cameras in Pretoria, which recorded every sneaky move of a robber attacking a man in Sunnyside, a man was on Tuesday sentenced to ten years in jail for cellphone robbery.

Pretoria Regional Court magistrate Kallie Bosch found Mathews Maseko, 30, of Mabopane guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
full story from IOL here

[Debbiedle]

YEBO YES!!!!! Go gett'em!!

[Dave A]

A KwaZulu-Natal police whistleblower, who was suspended without pay because, he said, he exposed fraudulent crime statistics, has had his salary reinstated.

Constable Craig Josiah approached the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg last month to set aside his suspension. He claimed he had been victimised and subjected to trumped-up charges after he exposed "fraudulent" activities in the capturing of crime statistics.

Josiah's affidavit to the court said his problems began when Badul ordered detectives to proceed with investigating only matters "where suspects were immediately available or easily ascertainable".

"We were specifically instructed that in all other matters the docket was to be kept aside in a separate room," Josiah told the court. "It was clear that the purpose of this 'new arrangement' was to ensure that criminal complaints that were unlikely to be successfully investigated and subsequently prosecuted would conveniently be left out of the reporting system, thereby falsely reducing the crime statistics for Mountain Rise Police Station."

He said that the "new arrangement" was "startling" to station members as they were of the view that it "constituted fraud".

Another instruction, Josiah said, was that officers should capture an alternative or lesser charge for crimes that were considered to be on the increase, "thereby reducing the instances of those crimes".

"It obviously also meant that all these complaints that were now set aside were no longer being recorded as part of the crime statistics. It also goes without saying that these crimes were therefore not policed. This carried on from February/March 2007 and as far as I know continues even today," Josiah said.
full story from M&G here

So, more effective policing or bad counting?

[tec0]

In all accounts violent crime is basically a gorilla tactic that is as old as war. Who will dare deny a criminal anything knowing that they will rape and murder you simply because they have the power to do so?

I wish to say it again “they have the power to do so�. It is true that our country is soft on criminals. Government cannot control crime nor can we facilitate rehabilitation. Crime is the product of both poverty and more importantly opportunity.

South Africa is now the number one destination for all criminals as shown in the Media. Criminals can do whatever they please because our law-enforcement entities are underfunded, untrained, and corruptible.

The above mentioned will facilitate any crime no matter its nature or severity thus we are becoming the nation of Victims. Criminals will openly attack children and the elderly not to mention women and even men. Criminals are fearless and because of our weak state of affairs they have the right to be.

Still hope as of now is not lost. If we adopt an aggressive single minded approach to crimes and violent crimes and implement systems such as proper prisons and harsh penalties like the death penalty things might change for us as a nation.

Now the argument is that we do not have the right to take life. Well if this is true then why do criminals continue to kill innocent people? It is true that the death penalty is perhaps an attempt at playing god. Yet the argument remains that if rape, child abuse and murder become punishable by death and is indeed enforced with decisive unhindered force an example will be set and it will have an effect on crime.

Yet if not our government then who can make this work? The dyeing public awaits an answer.

[Chatmaster]

Shall I say I am not surprised? Shall I also say I will not be surprised if this is the case nationally?

[Marq]

So - do we revisit that statistic that only 60% of violent crime is reported again.

Should it maybe read 40% of violent crime is not solvable and therefore the case dockets have been turfed into the do not record pile?

[Yvonne]

A recent sentencing of a convicted rapist:

The judge ruled a light sentence -

"The perpetrator is an educated person and the victim was a grown woman"

I am just too dumfounded to even attempt to make any further comments regarding the judges remarks, the judges ruling is going to be appealed, thank goodness!

The message is clear:

Criminals are not paying for their crimes, even in the rare cases of the criminal being apprehended and the case actually going to trial.

I feel so helpless even writing this that my instinct is to just delete the message! as I know that it serves no purpose.

Yvonne

[Dave A]

I feel so helpless even writing this that my instinct is to just delete the message! as I know that it serves no purpose.

Please take a moment to consider what my sig really means, Yvonne.

[Dave A]

New stats released:

The number of murders committed in South Africa has continued to drop, but house robberies have increased by more than a quarter, according to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

Releasing the police's crime statistics for the 2008/9 financial year, he also said police were concerned at a 41,5 percent hike in the number of business robberies, mostly targeting small businesses.
full article and more stats from IOL here

I was discussing ways of reducing risk of hijacking with my staff. One of the recommendations - no signage on vehicles as company cars are targets.

Reading that stat about the increase in business robberies, it struck me - Is there a view that robbing a business doesn't affect people?