The assault made up half of Gauteng’s reported contact crimes between 1 October and 31 December 2022, the police’s provincial commissioner revealed on Tuesday.
“We have been appealing to the public to find ways other than violence to resolve conflicts. We have previously highlighted that assault GBH [assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm] and common assault are the main contributors to our contact crimes,” said Lieutenant General Elias Mawela.
“For the period under review, these two crimes alone contributed over 50% as they have recorded 25 642 counts out of 50 039 total counts in the contact crimes category. Assault GBH has increased by 4.5% at 487 counts more, and common assault has increased by 9.4% with 1 238 counts more.”
According to News 24, Gauteng contributed 27.1 % of the overall crime in the country for this quarter.
Police stations in the province recorded 12 695 domestic violence-related crimes.
Johannesburg district recorded 5 058 domestic violence-related crimes, followed by Tshwane with 2 875, Ekurhuleni with 2 761, and West Rand with 1 159.
Of the domestic violence-related crimes, 1 469 women were victims of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, while 742 men were victims of the same offense.
“Crime reported under the sub-category of aggravated robberies are still prevalent in the province. This category includes trio crimes – carjacking and robberies at residential and non-residential premises.
“We were able to reduce this crime category [by] 0.1%. This was due to the reduction in carjacking by 6.8%, which translates to 192 counts less than the same period in 2021/2022. The category of other serious crimes, including shoplifting and commercial crimes, has recorded 33 088 counts overall, with the type of all theft not mentioned elsewhere contributing 19 512 counts.
“It is for this reason that theft is the single largest contributing crime category to our 17 community-reported crimes. Again, these are the kind of crimes that are challenging to prevent,” Mawela said.
He said the police had a limited role in combating shoplifting as they become part of the process only when the case docket is opened after the private security of the retail business apprehends a perpetrator.
“These crimes of assaults and theft are contributing negatively to our crime scoreboard, and we must find ways to prevent them. Our presence and visibility ensured that we increased our trajectory regarding our day-to-day policing efforts as reflected under the category of ‘crimes dependent on police for detection’.
We have achieved an increase of 11.8% which translates to 1 688 more counts compared to 2021/2022.
O Kae Molao operations continue to impact the number of people arrested positively. During phase 1 of an O Kae Molao operation, detectives conduct suspect tracing operations.
“For the period under review, they have managed to arrest 11 017 suspects. The vehicles and technical assistance through the deployment of drones, together with the boost of manpower through the deployment of the newly appointed constables from the National Project 10 000, ensured the augmentation of our footprint on the ground,” said Mawela.
