Crime stats report 'no surprise'

2009-07-05 17:24

Johannesburg - A Sunday Times report on manipulated crimes statistics at certain police stations is "no surprise", the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.

"The DA calls for a full forensic audit to be performed on every single police station in the country," DA MP and spokesperson on police Diane Kohler Barnard said in a statement.

She was reacting to a Sunday Times report that some police officers in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng had been accused of manipulating crime statistics.

Four senior police officers in Cape Town were undergoing a disciplinary hearing, police in four Gauteng police stations were under-reporting rape, and the Independent Complaints Directorate was investigating six stations, including one in KwaZulu-Natal, according to the report.

"Over the past two years I personally have received a number of reports by whistleblowers at various stations... claiming that the crime statistics that won the station the top spot in the province as the station most successful in decreasing crime in its area, were false," said Kohler Barnard.

She said regularly-released crime statistics played an essential role in fighting crime.

- SAPA