The recent release of the fourth quarter crime statistics between January and March of this year has confirmed earlier sentiments that violent crime has decreased in high-crime areas where Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap) officers are deployed.
In Kraaifontein, the murder rate has decreased with 26%, with 40 murders reported in the precinct, 14 less than in the same quarter of the previous financial year. Sexual offences decreased by 17%, with 44 reported cases, nine less; and attempted murder by 17%, with 28 cases, six less than in the previous year.
This downward trend has taken Kraaifontein out of the Top 10 list of areas in South Africa with the most serious crime – from sixth position to 18th. Also, carjacking decreased with 67%, from 15 to 10 cars; and residential robbery from 36 to 22 cases, a decrease of 14%.
Community Police Forum (CPF) chair Rob Bisset says the greater majority of these crimes are committed in the Bloekombos, Wallacedene and to a lesser extent in the gang-hotspots.
Bisset too attributes this improvement to the deployment of Leap officers who work with Kraaifontein police.
“The two law enforcement agencies work in very close cooperation with each other and I am confident that the crime trend in Kraaifontein will continue to improve. Without the Leap officers, we will be in big trouble,” he says.
According to Bisset, alcohol abuse remains a big contributor to violent crime.
“Yet the Western Cape Liquor Board continues to issue alcohol licenses to taverns, shebeens and other liquor outlets. The liquor board has to determine what the top of the bottle (limit of licences issued) is. You can’t continue to issue alcohol licences and expect the crime to come down,” he says.
According to Bisset, the CPF, police and the Western Cape Liquor Board is currently discussing this issue.
Statistics also reveal that the Western Cape’s 14,1% reduction in the murder rate is the highest in the country. This is a decrease of 143 murders from 1 015 murders during the same time in the previous financial year. “It demonstrates that while crime is still disturbingly high, the Western Cape Government’s safety plan is making a difference, and that the deployment of Leap officers has an impact in the areas served,” said provincial minister of police oversight and community safety,” Reagen Allen.
