The Brakpan SAPS held their monthly stakeholders’ meeting last Wednesday in the Mardi Gras hall at Carnival City.
As usual, the meeting opened with a prayer before the crime statistics overview for March 1 to 22 was given.
Common assault cases rose by eight from the previous year to 20. All of them were related to liquor and domestic violence.
Robbery with a weapon and attempted robbery rose by one case each.
House burglaries increased from 12 the previous year to 21, drug-related crimes decreased from 31 to 30, and drunken driving cases stayed the same at five.
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Most assault cases were reported on Mondays and Tuesdays, presumably after occurring during the weekend when alcohol consumption is higher.
Most of these cases were from the Brakpan CBD area. Most house burglaries occurred in Dalpark Exts 6, 9 and 11 and Sherwood Gardens.
There were also notable cases in the Brakpan CBD. Most were reported on Fridays.
It was said that most of these break-ins occurred during the day when no one was home, and frequently the homeowners were negligent, having left the security gates and doors unlocked.
In general, the crime overview looked promising. Cases of house burglaries, for example, reduced from 70 a month to about 20 a month over the past few years, thanks to the combined efforts of the community and the SAPS.
Withdrawn and false cases were a problem. The Justice Department reminded the public that they cannot withdraw a domestic violence case and that mandatory counselling would be assigned if such a crime was attempted.
Perjury cases had a high conviction rate with prison sentences. Tampering with infrastructure has a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for first-time offenders and is being taken seriously by the courts.
Illegal mining is an ongoing issue, and the challenges are many, but the mining council and the SAPS are collaborating to address the issue.
Open shafts need to be identified and reported to the mining council to be closed.
The hotspots for illegal mining are Brakpan North, Oval Road, Plastic City, Boundary Road and near Dalpark Ext 1.
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The topic of illegal connections and how to resolve them is still up for debate and will be addressed again at the next meeting.
There were suggestions to turn off the power supply to the sources of illegal connections, find end-point users and fine them, or provide informal settlements with safe, legal electricity.
Several operations to clean the town and curb crime in collaboration with the CPF, security companies and ward councillors are in the pipeline.
The cameras on the R23 are not yet operational. No timeframe was provided as to when they would be working.
Ward councillors were allowed to provide input, and Clr Anette Verster informed attendees that grass-cutting started the previous Wednesday for Wards 31, 105 and 97.
Contractors cut some of the grass and cleaned and raked the areas assigned to them. Other areas were cut by the Parks Department.
Those areas not cut by the contractor or the Parks Department would be cut in a joint effort between councillors and the community starting on May 6.
To help with the cutting and cleaning initiatives, Alice Dlamini from the Department of Correctional Services offered manpower in the form of criminals on parole or probation.
She also offered to provide transport for the convicts as long as the community provided them with food and water for the day.
The Department of Correctional Services has a parole and probation caseload of 22 in Brakpan and 215 in Tsakani.
Of these cases, eight absconded their sentences in Brakpan and 193 in Tsakani, but the absconder tracking unit will apprehend most of them.
Security firms suspect a gang is behind the increase in house burglaries and are patrolling the hotspots to curb this.
The CPF asked about vehicle theft at the Far East Rand Hospital. It was noted that the Springs SAPS had deployed patrollers to curb this.
