Crime stats show decline during lockdown, says Cele

CONTACT crimes such as rape, murder and assault have dropped dramatically during the national lockdown.

ALSO READ: You risk getting a criminal record by contravening lockdown regulations

In statistics released by the Ministry of Police, there are significant declines in rape (-82 per cent), murder (-64 per cent), attempted murder (-56 per cent), assault GBH (-80 per cent) and robbery with aggravating circumstances (64 per cent) compared to last year in the same period.

Other violent crimes like car jacking (-71 per cent) and house robberies (-49 per cent) have also seen declines.

“”While the figures remain low comparatively speaking, we have noted slight increases in some crime categories. The reasons behind the increase or decrease in crime is yet to be determined and confirmed by our Crime Analysts,” said Bheki Cele, Minister of Police.

“However, we do believe that the slight increase is due to the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions which has seen increased movement of people and traffic on the road, as more companies have gone back to business again. Arrests for contraventions of the Disaster Management Act have also more than doubled, 118 000 to 230 000 people charged, since the national government revised the security level from 5 to 4 in the beginning of May. These contraventions include selling off illegal cigarettes, illegal gatherings and transport offences amongst others.

ALSO READ: Criminals target schools and churches during lockdown

“Accordingly, the arrested persons were either issued with fines or released with warning, while some are out on bail and those cases relating to more serious offences are before the respective courts in the country,”said Cele.

Cele also confirmed that 611 members of the South African Police Service and the South African National have contracted the virus with six deaths reported.

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