The Reason Behind the Lower Murder Statistics?
Marikana was the high water mark in South African Police Service absurdity. Faced with a growing social revolt after the death of dozens of protesters at the hands of the police, and a tidal wave of murders since 1994, the ANC Police desperately needed something to turn the ground swell of negative public opinion. What better way to present to the public so called dwindling MURDER statistics shortly after the “Marikana bloodbath? BUT if they said it was daytime, I would first check outside to make sure! So the Murder stats are down hey, anything you say, anything you say!
Observant Settler
PRESS REPORTS OF THE MANIPULATION OF CRIME STATISTICS:
In recent years there have been persistent reports in the press about the 'cooking of crime statistics' by police. In a selection of press articles on the matter, allegations relating to such manipulation are made in relation to five of South Africa's nine provinces. In this selection of press articles, eleven different police stations in the Western Cape, four stations in Gauteng, one station in KwaZulu-Natal and one station in Limpopo are alleged to have manipulated crime statistics. Whilst not referring to any single police station, a brief press report in January 2010 also referred to an ICD investigation that pointed to various 'irregularities' in the SAPS in the Free State, including the 'manipulation of crime statistics'.
One prominent example is the Mountain Rise police station in Pietermaritzburg. In June 2009 press reports indicated that a SAPS inspector at the station had been suspended after alleging that statistics at the station were being manipulated. It was claimed that police at the station were instructed not to record criminal complaints unless the suspects were immediately available or facts easily ascertainable. Unrecorded dockets were allegedly kept aside in a separate room and eventually burnt. The practice had become institutionalised on the instructions of the station commissioner who had been deployed to the station early in 2007. The inspector was subsequently reinstated (and apparently seconded to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) whilst an ICD investigation confirmed the allegations and culminated in a recommendation that disciplinary action be taken against the station commissioner.
Also in June 2009, the Western Cape MEC for Safety and Security, Lennit Max, went public with allegations that at the police stations in Paarl, Paarl East, Mbekweni, Wellington and Oudtshoorn, cases were downgraded (i.e. offences were recorded as less serious than had been reported) or not recorded at all. Max is reported to have said that he feared the manipulation of crime statistics he had so far been notified of was only a fraction of what had occurred at the province's 147 police stations. Press reports in October 2009 also indicated that an SAPS disciplinary process had found the station commissioner and others at the Lansdowne police station guilty of tampering with crime statistics.
Another press article referred to a leaked internal report sent to the Western Cape provincial commissioner in December 2006, indicating that 'quite a substantial number of stations are involved in manipulation'. The report referred specifically to the Porterville, Piketberg and Paarl East police stations. A report in June 2007 referred to such manipulation at the Bishop Lavis police station, with other reports in 2007 and 2008 referring to similar practices at the Knysna and Gugulethu police stations.17 Subsequent press reports appeared to confirm the existence of evidence of cases systematically not being recorded at the Knysna police station…. Click here to download the full (ISS) document – (PDF – 1.3MB).
http://tia-mysoa.blogspot.com/2012/09/south-africas-murder-stats-envisioning.html
