Annual Provincial Crime Statistics

Involvement of police officers in criminal activities is cause for concern in Gauteng. Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said on Friday. Releasing the 2012/13 provincial crime statistics in Johannesburg, Mokonyane said a number of law enforcement officers were evidently involved in crime. "A worrisome statistic shows that 18 out of 50 provincial policing precincts were reported as CRIME-INFESTED DENS" that recorded police collusion and "OUTRIGHT CORRUPTION" she said. "The Johannesburg central police precinct tops the list with approximatelely 13000 criminal cases that were perpetrated by officers in uniform". She also revealed that vehicle hijackings in Gauteng had risen the past financial year. Robberies at residential premises had also gone up by 3.6%. She remained upbeat that crime was under control in Gauteng. Yes for a change I agree with that statement by her. Crime is under control. But what she failed to communicate was that crime was under the control of the police and Government. Protect the Criminals and serve Ourselves. That's my unshakable opinion!!!!!!!!! Apparently there were over 680 000 arrests last year of which 360 000 resulted in convictions. Now our prison population is a constant 160 000 we are told. So where are those 360 000 convicted criminals being kept?. On the other hand I have a lot of sympathy for her. Crime has to be kept at these extremely high levels for a very simple reason. Just consider this. We have between 300000 and 500000 private security guards, hundreds if not thousands private security companies employing these guards. Thousands of response vehicles need to be purchased together with hundreds of thousands of bullet-proof vests, guns, ammunition, a few thousand more admin staff, managers, plus all of the Government structures overseeing the massive security industry. It is already 3 times bigger then our Defense Force and Police combined. No wonder the Government is becoming very concerned about such a massive paramilitary force roaming the county side. If crime would be eradicated we would have a massive problem with all of those hundreds of thousands suddenly becoming unemployed. Alone the loss of tax revenue would cripple the treasury in a hurry. Not only would these security companies go out of business but also the thousands of other small to medium businesses involved in manufacturing security gates, electric fences, Alarm and CCTV systems. Vehicle Tracking companies would have no use for their hundreds of Response teams, their helicopters and pilots and trackers would be unemployed as well. This is a multi Billion Rand industry. Doctors and Nurses could be put to better uses than treating gunshot and rape victims. Undertakers would go under as their regular customers would be absent. My guess is that at least 30% if not a lot more of tax revenue is directly generated by crime. Thousands of stolen cars need to be replaced annually. I wonder how much of our GDP is actually as a direct result of crime. 20%, 40% ?????? It is also obvious that 99% of those in the private security industry do not have the intellect to perform jobs in most other sectors. So there is no alternative to keep crime at these levels just to keep social stability. It's an oxymoron.