Last week Police Minister Bheki Cele and his team presented the 2017/18 crime statistics in Parliament, which left most South Africans were left stunned by the grim news that there has been an increase in the murder rate.
Many of these murders relate to women and children.
The stats for contact crimes, which include murder, attempted murder, assault with grievous bodily harm, common assault, common robbery, robbery aggravating and sexual assault were also released.
Wahl Bartmann, CEO of Fidelity Security Group said it was concerning to see four of the 10 top stations for contact crime sitting in Gauteng accounting for 170 640 of the national reported cases.
“The stats leave many homeowners worrying about whether they or their property are likely to be a target of violence or threatening ‘contact crime’,” he said.
He noted that within the Fidelity ADT footprint over the same time period the two most common crimes included armed robbery and house break and theft, although there has actually been a decrease in the latter from 3 420 incidents in 2016/2017 to 2919 in 2017/2018.
“Armed robberies had, however, also increased slightly in line with the broader stats. The peak times for contact crimes is between 6am in the morning and 1pm and then again from 6pm to 10pm.
“We can see a pattern when people leave the house and then return again.”
He said people are easier targets in summer time. “People also entertain more during the summer months and this is always a risk if the correct security protocols are not followed.
“At this time of year we are cognisant of the fact that crime nationally escalates the closer we get to Christmas and believe it is important for everyone to stay alert and for the community to work closely together over the next three months.
He said typically ATM fraud, cash-in-transit and house break-ins escalate around the country the closer we get to Christmas.
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