THE quarterly crime statistics released by Police Minister, Bheki Cele, this afternoon, has shown some double-digit increases, which have never been seen before.
“Crimes such as contact crimes, sexual offences, aggravated robberies, contact-related and property-related crimes have recorded never seen before double-digit increases. Ordinarily, this would have been catastrophic but I assure the nation, this is not the case.
“We cannot compare the same period of this year and last year, due to the skewed and abnormal crime trends, caused by the different levels of lockdown, if we are to understand this crime picture that we are presenting to you today,” he said.
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Crime in Durban North has also increased with the statistics showing an increase in shoplifting, theft out of motor vehicles and residential robberies.
Shoplifting cases escalated from 55 to 113 and sexual offences has seen a 200% increase from three cases last year to nine this quarter.
Other crimes which have seen an increase are robbery from 12 to 30 cases; theft out of motor vehicle from 12 to 61; rape from one to eight cases, robbery at residential premises from three to nine cases.
Driving under the influence of alcohol has also risen from one case last April to June to seven this quarter.
Drug related crimes on the other hand has declined by 8% from 15 last year to seven this year.
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