Pretoria - The recipe to fighting crime is not a secret - it takes adequate resources, increased police visibility, manpower and a good morale among officers.
This is according to senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Johan Burger.
Speaking to BuaNews after the release of the national crime statistics, covering the year ending in March 2010, Burger pointed out that in the last eight years, police personnel was increased by about 70 000 and the police budget increased to almost R53 billion in the same period.
He attributed these initiatives as impacting on the positive change in crime statistics in the country.
"These stats are poof that something positive was happening ... what needs to be done then is some research to identify other factors that had contributed to the improvement in the crime statistics," said Burger.
Murder, attempted murder and sexual offences have all declined but house robberies have climbed by 2.7 percent which, although an increase, is an improvement from an average of 25 percent rise over the past five years.
The decline in murder was attributed to several new police efforts, including increased visibility and an increased budget which has allowed for more training and a larger contingent of police officers.
Aggravated robbery has decreased by 7.5 percent, while bank robbery has also enjoyed some relief.
Burger said these successes had been achieved by a greater pooling of resources between the police, communities and business.
However, he said, there was still room to improve, especially in the detective services, forensics and specialised units, which still faced manpower shortages. The increase in these units would greatly help in the fight against crime.
"There is still an intractable problem of violent crime in the country that isn't being addressed in a comprehensive way," he said, highlighting that housebreakings remained a huge challenge.
"One's home is the one place above all where you and your family should feel safe," Burger said, a view supported by various political parties and government.
The statistics revealed that burglary at residential premises increased by 2.7 percent with the Sandton police station reporting the highest number of house burglaries in the country.
According to Burger, the country can still expect to enjoy improved crime statistics next year-because these statistics did not take into account the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which saw increased policing and and an increased budget.
"I certainly do expect that especially with the efforts around the World Cup, prior to the World Cup, during the World Cup and after the World Cup that this should have an impact," said Burger, adding that police also gained from the experience.
The general reaction to the statistics from political parties and business is that while there has been improvement, a lot more still needs to be done.
Many have called on communities to become involved in their local community safety structures in order to play an active role in the prevention of home robberies, while
others have called on government to implement the same measures that were implemented during the World Cup.
