Lack of crime stats slammed

2004-08-27 13:03

Pretoria - The police's reluctance to offer detailed crime statistics only in an annual audit is inexcusable in a democracy, the Institute for Security Studies said on Friday.

"Under the Public Finance Management Act the police must be accountable to tax payers," senior researcher Ted Leggett said.

He said the absence of detailed police reports at a very local level did not help people with decisions they would want to make such as where to invest their businesses, buy property and send their children to school.

"This becomes impossible to check given that their primary strategy is about focussing on station areas."

The matter came under the spotlight this week when Sapa requested police for statistics against which to compare a reported reduction in hijackings in Gauteng, given only as a percentage.

North Rand police spokesman Superintendent Eugene Opperman said further details would only be available from the annual audit.

- SAPA