By Yugendree Naidoo
The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) has warned that society needs to be wary of the middle class dictating which crimes are prioritised by the police.
In a statement released in response to the crime statistics released by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa this week the CSVR said it was concerned at the tendency to focus on residential robberies, business robberies and car and truck hijackings because they affected the middle class, while street robberies, which affected poor people, were given less attention.
"The impact of violence on poorer South African communities is not well understood or integrated into how crime priorities are conceived," the CSVR statement says.
The CSVR also called for armed violence and sexual violence to be made higher priority concerns for the police.
"We believe that the core problem which should be the focus of government attention should be the problem of armed violence incorporating all violent crimes committed with guns and knives," it said.
Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) chief executive Dr Graham Wright said the crime statistics were "a mixed bag of results, where reductions in reported crime in some categories are dampened by significant increases in other categories".
In a press release on the BACSA website, Wright said business robberies recorded the highest increase of 41,5%, with small business being most affected.
He reiterated the business community's commitment to working with government to reduce opportunities for crime in the business sector and said the business community was deeply concerned at the high level of crime and violence generally.
"The increase in robbery with aggravating circumstances remains of particular concern and especially the increases in crimes such as business robberies, residential robberies and vehicle and truck hijackings because these crimes are problematic for the business community and citizens and consequently remain a high priority for both business and government," he said.
Human Rights Commission (HRC) senior crime and human rights researcher Danzel van Zyl said the crime statistics needed to be jointly released with results from the Department of Justice.
Van Zyl said it was necessary to know how many arrests had been effected and how many successful prosecutions there had been
"We need accurate information to know if we are making any progress in dealing with crime in South Africa," he said.
He said the under-reporting of crime was also a concern as "a large percentage of South Africans" had no faith in the police.
"People face secondary victimisation from going to the police and therefore don't even bother reporting assaults," he said.
He said the crime statistics should "be taken with a pinch of salt" as they gave a false impression that violence in society was decreasing.
In City Press.
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
