If national police statistics are to be believed, the number of murders reported to Buffalo City Metro’s 12 main police stations plunged by 104 from 360 in 2013-14 to 256 in 2014-15.
The police are working in terms of a memorandum of agreement with StatsSA to bring accuracy to crime numbers – but the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) says they are checking the method of changing crime statistics to remove cases which do not get to court.
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said 7000 dockets had been closed and archived nationally in this time period.
She said another anomaly was how unwanted babies dumped and left to die were dealt with in an inquest and no longer listed as murder victims.
There were more than 1000 such cases in Gauteng alone. She had no stats for BCM.
The biggest drop in murders in BCM was recorded at Duncan Village police station, down by 28 from 67 to 39.
Other stations which reported fewer murder cases were Mdantsane (from 62 down by 20 to 42); Cambridge (from 34 down by 19 to 15); King William’s Town (down from 81 by 19 to 62); Beacon Bay (from 21 down by 10 to 11); Dimbaza (21 down by eight to 13), Inyibiba in Mdantsane (down from 26 by eight to 18), Buffalo Flats (from 20 down by five to 15); East London (down from 34 by four to 30) and Gonubie (down two from 12 to 10).
Grahamstown also improved from a high of 28 murders to 11, a drop of 17, but Stutterheim saw a drop of only one murder from 19 to 18.
Port Alfred had one murder over the last year, while it had none in 2013-14.
Stations which recorded the same level or worse were: Vulindlela in Mdantsane which went up two from 29 to 31, while Zwelitsha, which houses the provincial police headquarters, remained at 15.
Grahamstown registered a drop of 115 reported sexual offences from 188 to 73, but in Port Alfred the number of sexual offences doubled from 11 to 22.
Duncan Village figures also dropped, from 140 sexual offence cases to 81 (a drop of 59), Vulindlela fell from 121 to 83 (38), Mdantsane registered 33 fewer cases (157 to 124), Gonubie almost halved its rate from 60 to 33 (27), King William’s Town fell by 19 to 62, but there were only small gains in Beacon Bay (seven less at 38), East London (six less at 116), Inyibiba (eight less at 59) and Buffalo Flats (two less at 47).
Bringing great hope to the metro was a large decline in reports of brawling.
The combined number of assaults with intention to cause grievous bodily harm and common assaults dropped at Cambridge by 129 cases, at Duncan Village by 106 cases, at Gonubie by 38, at King William’s Town by 115, in Dimbaza 38, Buffalo Flats 51, Zwelitsha 73, Inyibiba 50 and East London 126.
Grahamstown saw a drop of 372 cases and there were 173 fewer reports of common robbery there.
Local crime stats show dramatic drop
The police are working in terms of a memorandum of agreement with StatsSA to bring accuracy to crime numbers – but the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) says they are checking the method of changing crime statistics to remove cases which do not get to court.
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said 7000 dockets had been closed and archived nationally in this time period.
She said another anomaly was how unwanted babies dumped and left to die were dealt with in an inquest and no longer listed as murder victims.
There were more than 1000 such cases in Gauteng alone. She had no stats for BCM.
The biggest drop in murders in BCM was recorded at Duncan Village police station, down by 28 from 67 to 39.
Other stations which reported fewer murder cases were Mdantsane (from 62 down by 20 to 42); Cambridge (from 34 down by 19 to 15); King William’s Town (down from 81 by 19 to 62); Beacon Bay (from 21 down by 10 to 11); Dimbaza (21 down by eight to 13), Inyibiba in Mdantsane (down from 26 by eight to 18), Buffalo Flats (from 20 down by five to 15); East London (down from 34 by four to 30) and Gonubie (down two from 12 to 10).
Grahamstown also improved from a high of 28 murders to 11, a drop of 17, but Stutterheim saw a drop of only one murder from 19 to 18.
Port Alfred had one murder over the last year, while it had none in 2013-14.
Stations which recorded the same level or worse were: Vulindlela in Mdantsane which went up two from 29 to 31, while Zwelitsha, which houses the provincial police headquarters, remained at 15.
Grahamstown registered a drop of 115 reported sexual offences from 188 to 73, but in Port Alfred the number of sexual offences doubled from 11 to 22.
Duncan Village figures also dropped, from 140 sexual offence cases to 81 (a drop of 59), Vulindlela fell from 121 to 83 (38), Mdantsane registered 33 fewer cases (157 to 124), Gonubie almost halved its rate from 60 to 33 (27), King William’s Town fell by 19 to 62, but there were only small gains in Beacon Bay (seven less at 38), East London (six less at 116), Inyibiba (eight less at 59) and Buffalo Flats (two less at 47).
Bringing great hope to the metro was a large decline in reports of brawling.
The combined number of assaults with intention to cause grievous bodily harm and common assaults dropped at Cambridge by 129 cases, at Duncan Village by 106 cases, at Gonubie by 38, at King William’s Town by 115, in Dimbaza 38, Buffalo Flats 51, Zwelitsha 73, Inyibiba 50 and East London 126.
Grahamstown saw a drop of 372 cases and there were 173 fewer reports of common robbery there.
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