The Sandton policing precinct recorded the highest number of commercial crime cases reported nationally from July to September this year.
This was according to Minister of Police Bheki Cele during the announcement of the national second-quarter crime statistics.
Sandton police recorded 387 commercial crimes which included corruption, fraud, forgery, embezzlement and money laundering, during this period. This amounted to a 32.1% increase in comparison to the same period in the previous year.
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In other crimes, Sandton recorded 329 contact crimes (crimes against a person), 20 sexual offence crimes, six cases of aggravated robbery and 31 contact-related crimes.
According to Cele, contact crimes remained a concern nationally.
“Violence meted not only against women and children but violence playing out in our homes on our roads, and even inside public safe spaces such as churches and schools, is staggering,” he said.
While the number of property-related crimes remained the same in comparison to the same period in the previous year (259 cases), the subcategories of burglary at residential premises and theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles saw significant increases.
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Burglary at residential premises increased from 55 reported cases in July to September 2021 to 83 cases in 2022 during the same period.
The theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles increased from 47 reported cases in July to September 2021 to 69 cases in 2022 during the same period.
Theft out of or from motor vehicles saw a 42.2% decrease from 128 cases reported in July to September 2021.
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Crime detected as a result of police action, this includes the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, drug-related crimes, driving under the influence and sexual offences, also saw an increase (107 reported cases between July to September 2022 in comparison to the 55 cases recorded between July to September in 2021).
Cele added that as the country headed into the festive season, an additional 10 000 officers have been deployed to intensify police visibility.
“More boots will be on the ground and escalated crime prevention and crime-combatting operations will be a daily occurrence until the end of January 2023.”
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