Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela says aggravated robberies are still prevalent in the province. These include carjacking and robberies at residential and non-residential premises.
Mawela was presenting the Gauteng 3rd Quarter crime statistics at Gold Reef City, south of Johannesburg, on Tuesday.
Mawela claims that, while the statistics show an increase, various police operations on the ground are yielding some results.
“During phase 1 of the O Kae Molao operation, detectives conduct suspects tracing operations. For the period under review, they have managed to arrest 11 017 suspects. The vehicles and technical assistance through the deployment of drones together with the boost of manpower through the deployment of the newly appointed constables from the National Project 10 000, ensured the augmentation of our footprint on the ground.”
The Gauteng Commissioner says the province contributed over 27% of the crime statistics in the third quarter of 2022. He says serious crimes which include contact-related crimes increased by 7.1% during the period under review. Assault grievous bodily harm (GBH) and common assault remain the main contributors to the overall figure of contact crimes.
Mawela says for the period under review, these two crimes alone contributed over 50% of the contact crimes category.
Assault GBH has increased by 4.5% and common assault has increased by 9.4% compared to the previous quarter.
He has appealed to the public to find ways other than violence to resolve conflicts.
