The latest crime stats are out and as could be expected, it’s not a pretty picture.
In fact, there’s been a worrying increase in almost all crimes that concern the majority of law-abiding South Africans.
While there’s been significant decreases in bank robberies, cash-in-transit heists and a massive 99% drop in the DNA backlog, which will result in more convictions in old cases, murder, attempted murder, rape and hijackings are all up.
Attempted crime went up by almost 25%, which is massive and extremely concerning, because it could mean that more and more people are acting out of desperation. These may be people who would previously not consider criminal acts, but are forced into it by circumstance.
So allow me to make a few helpful suggestions that I think government should seriously consider to get in front of the ongoing crime wave.
Our daily diet of violence is not normal, so we must employ extraordinary measures to resist normalising it even further.
It is also a multi-faceted problem, requiring multi-faceted and innovative thinking that attacks both the symptoms and the causes simultaneously and from all possible angles.
In other words, we need blanket action from government and citizens alike.
And I am personally prepared to suffer a few police-state-like inconveniences, like being randomly searched, to see gangsterism and the threat of violence eradicated.
I reckon it would be the lesser of two current evils.
And while I don’t believe that funding is a silver-bullet solution to everything, I do believe this is a situation where throwing money at the problem will make an immediate and noticeable difference.
So let’s start with redeploying police officers from areas with less crime to high-crime areas, like the Cape Flats.
It is the same community service thinking that sees graduate doctors and nurses being sent to the neediest parts of the country.
More civilian volunteers should take over police station admin, freeing up even more officers, which will allow us to flood the streets with cops for a prolonged period of time.
Stop saying that the army isn’t trained for urban policing. If we started training them years ago, then they would have been of immense use by now.
Armies also have to evolve and move with the times. And in today’s world, they are more likely to be needed in an urban setting supporting social initiatives, than they are to be fighting wars on a battlefield somewhere.
So let’s train our soldiers to do some support-policing, partnering with cops in a buddy system.
The officer can do some on-the-job training while doing his policing, while having a soldier as a “bodyguard”.
We would literally double our capacity in no time, while also discouraging gangsters from challenging a cop in a gunfight.
Let’s look at some laws.
Premeditated attacks on police officers shouldn’t simply be parcelled alongside every-day criminality. It should be legally declared a crime against the state, an act of treason that is punished accordingly.
Using advanced forensics and ballistics, suspects should be charged with every crime committed with a gun found on them.
SARS must actively pursue criminals who live above their obvious means.
Let’s confiscate some fancy cars and other proceeds of crime and give it to the soldiers to police with.
All while crime intelligence is busy in the background looking for clues and new leads.
In addition to the ballistics, other technology should form an active part of this offensive.
For example, I saw a suggestion that drones could’ve helped with a raid that resulted in six casualties.
There should be drones permanently flying over crime hotspots, looking down with infrared cameras that can see concealed guns on people and hidden inside houses.
They will be able to track stolen cars and even identify suspects using artificial intelligence and transmit that information to the nearest patrol car, which of course will have a cop and a soldier inside.
Another online comment I like is that of an economic upliftment unit of some sort, working hand-in-hand with the hard crime-fighting.
Their job must be to look at ways to address the social challenges of joblessness, hunger, hopelessness, trauma and abuse.
They must also serve as diversion counsellors and mentors for youngsters.
Their programmes will be able to take place relatively unhindered with police and soldiers patrolling around the clock and keeping them safe.
There are many people out there doing good work and I believe more will join if their safety can be assured and they can see the chance of successfully turning things around.
The most important part of this solution will be the citizen involvement. We will all have to jump in and do a little bit to help make this a success.
And that all depends on how fed-up we are with the ongoing violence and daily threat of violence against us.
If each one of us did the right thing – report a relative with an illegal gun, refuse to buy stolen goods, force our addicted son into rehab, tip off police about a planned robbery, spoke up against vandals, protect schools, ambulances, even just stopped littering – then a movement like this could really have an impact.
Of course a holistic, multi-departmental and multi-disciplinary project like this will also require some serious and long-term political, financial and corporate will.
And everyone involved will have to commit to run with it for as long as it will take. I suspect it will take a very, very long time. But we can’t afford not to try.
breinou@gmail.com
Caption: SEARCH: Police at crime scene.