Pretoria - All eyes will be on the South African Police Service (SAPS), as they release the much anticipated Annual Crime Statistics this morning.
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, Deputy Police Minister Makhotso Sotyu, the National Commissioner of Police, General Riah Phiyega, MECs responsible for Policing, SAPS Provincial Commissioners as well as various SAPS partners - from business, community policing forums and academia - will be present at the release of the crime stats in Pretoria.
The crime stats will cover the 2013/14 financial year, from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014.
The crime report will cover only crimes that have been reported to the police. The reported crime data is also expected to be further broken down by province and police stations.
The categories to be covered during the announcement include murder, business robberies, house robberies, hijackings, robbery with aggravated circumstances, drunken driving, drug related crimes and sexual offences.
Government releases these statistics once a year primarily to provide the public with progress in the fight against crime in the country, as well as a review of some of the current strategies in tackling crime and guiding operational plans for the SAPS.
The 2012/13 Annual Crime Statistics revealed that there were 896 298 serious crime arrests, compared to 777 140 during the 2011/12 reporting period.
Police convicted 352 513 people for serious crimes, while there were 307 580 convictions in 2011/12.
Contact crime decreased by 38.2% over nine years, 16% during the past four years and 4.2% during 2012/13.
While the murder rate decreased by 27.2% over nine years, with a further reduction of 16.6% during the past four years, there was a slight increase of 0.6% during 2012/13. There was an increase in attempted murder of 6.5% during the past financial year.
SAPS said the period had been characterised by growing unity in action against crime, with a focus on improving life conditions for all, especially the poor.
Crimes committed against women also decreased by 11.1 % to 175 880, when compared to the 2009/10 period, when there were 197 877 cases.
Rape had decreased by 3.3% in the past four years and 0.4% in 2012/13.
There was a 34.6% decrease in ATM bombings, from 399 cases to 261 cases. – SAnews.gov.za
