Thanks to boosted patrols and a good security camera network, burglary has halved compared to the same period last year At non-residential premises it has reduced from21 to 14. Burglary at residential premises has dropped from 55 in the first quarter of 2023 to 21 in the same period this year. But as theft from premises has steadily declined, so is commercial crime in Port Alfred steadily on the rise. There were 23 incidents in 2022, 31 in 2023 and this year, Q1 was 52. That’s a 67.7% spike, mirroring the national trend.
The South African Police Service recently released the country’s crime statistics for the first quarter of 2024 (April-June 2024), along with the last quarter for 2023/2024 financial year (January 2024 to March 2024). SAPS’s spreadsheet allows the comparison of stats for the same period in the four previous years (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
Under crime detected as a result of police action, drug related crime in Port Alfred has increased from 25 cases in Q1 last year to 32 this year. That’s in contrast to Nemato where reports in that category significantly reduced from 2021 (39) and 2023 (14) to 2024 (4).
Commercial crimes are those committed for financial gain and include fraud, theft, forgery, corruption, tax evasion, embezzlement, money laundering and racketeering, as well as facilitating, receiving and possessing the proceeds of crime. Researchers Trevor Budhram and Nicolaas Geldenhuys in their paper, ‘A losing battle? Assessing the detection rate of commercial crime’ say commercial crime is closely related to white-collar crime, financial crime and economic crime.
The number of fraud and scamming cases in Port Alfred rose so dramatically last year that provincial police issued a statement specifically referring to the town, with the aim of creating more awareness among its residents. The Port Alfred Community Policing Forum this year held two information sessions where experts spoke to residents about how to avoid fraud and scamming.
Burglary by contrast has enjoyed a downward trend in Port Alfred.
Multi Security owner and chairperson of the Port Alfred CPF Clinton Millard said residential burglaries in the area had halved because of the extra personpower and joint operations conducted in residential areas to bring crime down.
“The cameras we’ve put up at strategic points have played a massive, massive role.
“In addition, with our vehicles doing regular patrols and working with community groups, we’ve been able to pre-empt criminal activity by pushing manpower to those areas. That visibility has brought down crime, so it helps to have a large force like we currently do.”
Sky Alarms owner Louis Oosthuizen said while their stats also showed fewer burglaries, there had been more incidents of trespassing.
“There have been fewer break-ins, but opportunists are still entering yards and stealing outside light and copper pipes among other items.”
Of the drop in home break-ins, Oosthuizen said, “More people are improving their security at home – putting in security lights and beams.”
While residential burglaries had halved, there were a significant number of incidents of small township businesses being robbed, Millard said.
“Small spaza shops often keep cash on site and people moving cash off-site after hours tend to be targeted,” said Multi Security’s Millard. “Every time these robberies or burglaries happen, there is cash on site and the same businesses are targeted repeatedly.
“But we have seen incidents starting to drop and crime in the area has generally decreased.”
Bathurst
In Bathurst, home break-ins remain a big problem. The category of residential burglaries rose from 21 in Q1 2023 to 35 in Q1 2024.
More sexual offences and rapes were reported than in the same period last year.
From none reported in the same period last year, five sexual offences were reported Q1 2024. There were also more common assault cases reported compared to Q1 2023 (from 9 to 13).
No cases of rape were reported in Q1 of 2023; in 2024, four cases were reported.
Malicious damage to property rose from 7 to 13.
Alexandria
Dominant crimes for the Alexandria precinct match national statistics with Assault GBH and common assault being the most common reported crimes. There were 18 reports of each in the period.
Burglary at non-residential premises was 10; at residential premises was 13.
There were seven cases of stock theft.
Mirroring the national trend, commercial crime is on the increase: 2 cases in 2020 and 9 in the same period last year to 14 in the first quarter of 2024.
There were 9 cases of drug related crime.
Kenton-on-Sea
Reported at the Kenton-on-Sea Police Station were significantly more cases of common assault than in the same period last year, increasing from 18 to 29. Assault GBH increased to 21. There were 11 cases of malicious damage to property.
There were four burglaries at non residential premises and 23 burglaries at people’s homes.
Seafield (Kleinemonde)
Kleinemonde is still living up to its reputation of close to no crime reported and the biggest count (4) is for commercial crime.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, September 12, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
