Lisa Vetten, says that crime statistics are not utilised optimally to bring about a positive change in communities.
She was reacting after The statistics show that South Africa’s murder rate dropped by 5.8% in the second quarter, sexual offences by 2.5%, robbery with aggravating circumstances by 8.8% and rape by 3.1%.“What I think we really need to do, is use police statistics so much better than we currently do. At this point, we just use them as a basis whether or not to shout at the police for an increase or to congratulate them for a decrease.
“I use rape for example, one of the things that the police do is break down rape statistics in South Africa, in terms of the top 20 or 30 stations and you can see some really interesting fluctuations going on there over a period of a year,” adds Vetten.