Only one of five police stations in the area is detecting more crimes as a result of their safety and security efforts. The 2019/2020 annual crime statistics were released on 31 July and for years the Police Department has included the numbers around crimes detected as a result of police action. These crimes largely depend on the deployment of law enforcement personnel and the employment of intelligence to be discovered. They include illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, drug-related crimes, driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, and sexual offences detected as a result of police action. When focusing on the police action of the five police stations under the Northcliff Melville Times’ distribution area, the number of such crimes decreased at all stations except for Sophiatown Police Station who recorded 36 more than the previous year. Their total crimes detected as a result of police action stands at 844 for 2019/2020. According to the national statistics, a firearm was used in 7 351 murders and used as the weapon of choice in 20 927 criminal incidents during April 2019 and March 2020. Brixton, Parkview and Sophiatown police stations discovered more illegal firearms and ammunition during this period. Efforts by officers at Brixton police resulted in them reporting 18 illegal possession of firearms and ammunition cases, Parkview with 10 and Sophiatown with 55. Linden police recorded nine, a decrease of one while Fairland reported six less to have a total of one. Sophiatown Police Station is also the only station out of the five to record an increase in drug-related crimes detected by the police. Ten more successes over the 12-month period gave them a total of 643 drug-related crimes while Linden Police Station recorded the largest drop with 98 less. Linden recorded a total of 77 drug-related crimes while Brixton, Fairland and Parkview recorded totals of 158 (93 less), four (12 less) and 17 (three less) respectively. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs contribute to many deaths in South Africa every year. Fairland, Linden and Sophiatown police arrested more of these offenders than they did the previous year to have totals of 56 349 and 145 cases respectively. Parkview police reported 22 less such cases to have a total of 114 and Brixton recorded 26 less to have a final total of 100.
