Police winning fight against crime - Mthethwa

(Image: GCIS)

"This progress, to a large extent can be attributed to the contribution of different partners from different spheres, yet who all share a common vision," Mthethwa said at the Tracker SAPS National Awards on Friday.

The 2011/2012 crime statistics, released by the police in September, show that murder has decreased by 3.1%, attempted murder has decreased by 5.2% and common assault has decreased by 3.4%.

Car hijackings have dropped by 11.9%, cash-in-transit heists have decreased by 37.5%, while bank robberies and ATM bombings have decreased by 10.3% and 34.6% respectively.

Mthethwa noted that when Tracker and SAPS became partners in the fight against crime in 1996, vehicle crime levels in South Africa were making headlines around the world. Today, while vehicle crime remains a serious concern for all South Africans, it has come down significantly.

Thousands of vehicles recovered

Over the past 16 years, Tracker and the SAPS have recovered close to 60,000 stolen and hijacked vehicles. More than 11,000 arrests have been made as a consequence of all the vehicles that have been recovered.

"This is particularly important when one considers how often stolen vehicles are involved in many other forms of violent crimes. The partnership has developed to such an extent that in certain provinces we are now making two arrests for every three vehicles that are recovered," said Mthethwa.

He said work was underway to translate the arrests into effective convictions.

"We do so through increasing the number of detectives, as well as enhancing related training. The review process has also revealed the need for better career-pathing within the detective section, and also within the SAPS generally."

The police were proud to be associated with Tracker, which is the country's largest vehicle tracking company. Tracker's technology is fitted to more than 750,000 vehicles, most of which are high-risk vehicles.