Crime stats freeze until at least June
Friday, January 12, 2001
By Adrienne Carlisle
Source: Dispatch online
GRAHAMSTOWN -- The moratorium on the release of police crime statistics, already entering its seventh month, is likely to continue until at least June this year while the Department of Safety and Security trains 1000 crime information analysis officers.
Safety and Security Ministry spokesperson Andre Martin said yesterday that the moratorium on the publication of crime statistics would be reconsidered as soon as the standards of such statistics had been enhanced to "acceptable levels".
"It is envisaged that this will be completed during June this year, at which stage the minister (Steve Tshwete) will review his decision as well as the frequency and format of statistical release."
Martin said in an exclusive interview that they had already trained 600 crime information analysis officers and appointed them in high-crime-rate areas at police stations countrywide.
"We have appointed a further 400 who are still waiting to be trained at the beginning of this year."
In July last year, Tshwete announced the moratorium on releasing crime statistics and appointed a task team to gather and disseminate crime statistics.
The head of the police's crime analysis centre, Dr Chris de Kock, said at the time that the success of the three-year anticrime plan, Operation Crackdown, largely depended on the availability of accurate figures.
Some two years ago a team of local and international experts, headed by Statistics SA chief Mark Orkin, investigated and found countless flaws in how crime statistics were collected, processed and disseminated.
However, the decision to place a wholesale morato-rium on the release of crime statistics received a cool reception from the Freedom of Expression Institute and media organisations.
