Mitchell’s Plain police station has dropped to second place in the list of stations across the country ranked according to the number of crimes reported.
This is according to the recent crime statistics for 2016/2017 released by national Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula on Tuesday.
Between April last year and March this year, 31 484 cases were reported at Mitchell’s Plain police station, of the 250 636 cases reported in South Africa.
Last year we reported that of the 135 525 cases reported nationally by the end of March 2016, 19 499 cases (14.4%) emanated from Mitchell’s Plain police station, closely followed by Cape Town Central with 17 785 cases (13.1%) and Johannesburg with 14 606 cases (10.8%) (“The ‘Plain is crime capital,” Plainsman, September 7, 2016).
This year Cape Town Central recorded a whopping 35 208 cases.
Previously Mitchell’s Plain police station had 119 cases of murder, which dropped by 16 cases this year (“Drop in most crime but sex crimes, assaults increase,” Plainsman, October 25).
Colonel Jan Alexander, acting station commander, highlighted the decrease in the number of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition cases, a drop of 87 cases, showing that fewer firearms were seized.
Last year 225 incidents were reported and this year 141 cases.
Colonel Alexander said the police and the community needed to unite to take guns out of circulation. While fewer cases have been reported generally across crime categories, sexual assault is up by 22 cases, to 78 cases this year. Meanwhile, Mitchell’s Plain police station topped the list of 10 worst precincts in the country reporting 4 914 cases of drug-related crime, detected as a result of police action. This is an increase of 305 cases, since last year’s 4 609 cases.
Lentegeur police station commander Colonel Herman Seals is calling on the community to help fight the scourge of drug peddling. The station ranked number seven in the top 10 worst police precincts, with 2 444 cases of drug-related crime being reported between April last year and March this year, an increase of 394 cases.
Colonel Seals said the figures indicate that the police are arresting drug users, which shows there is a big problem with drugs in the area.
“Too many people are walking around with drugs. It is of concern,” he said. “At the end of the day we are arresting users but not really getting to the guys, who sell the things. For that we need community assistance,” he said.
Colonel Seals said residents are often scared to give information. “We have a system to keep people anonymous. They can either speak to me or the detective commander,” he said.
He said interviews can be done away from the station and that residents can also call 10111.
Colonel Seals said they received tip-offs every day which could lead to premises being searched and possible arrests. “I will make sure names are not called and that no one knows who gave the information,” he said.
Colonel Seals said there is good relationship between the station, the community police forum (CPF) and the neighbourhood watch. “We need to acknowledge the neighbourhood watch, who has contributed a lot in the fight against crime,” he said.
