Update: CPF chairman on Bitou crime
Plettenberg Bay Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson, Bruce Richardson, expressed his concern about recent articles in the media regarding the nature and prevalence of criminal activity in Plettenberg Bay.
He acknowledged that there had been elevated crime levels during the past two years and explained that in the view of the CPF, certain significant developments had led to said elevation.
According to Richardson, the crime level escalation coincided with 52 parolees’ release back into the Bitou area in accordance with presidential amnesty granted about two years ago.
Last week on July 1, a further 36 parolees were released into the area which served to compound the situation. However Bitou is not the only area to feel the impact of such decisions, as parolees have been released country-wide.
Richardson said that in his opinion, these releases were a travesty and totally counterproductive. He felt that it was very demotivating for the police and private sector security effort. He further said that the result of these decisions was that police time and resources were being wasted on monitoring and tracking the parolees thereby potentially placing the safety and security of residents at risk.
These releases, coupled with historical actions taken, have lead to what some have erroneously branded an unprecedented crime wave. According to Richardson, statistics show that this is not the case.
Richardson reminded the Bitou community of what had transpired in the past to exacerbate the current criminal dilemma. “For totally unsupportable reasons, the holding of the Magistrate’s Court in the town was cancelled with effect from the August 1 2011 on three days’ notice. The logistical challenge that this has presented for the police, who are already under-resourced, and witnesses who now have to travel to Knysna to attend court, has been enormous and the consequent drop in conviction rates and the re-cycling of criminals back onto our streets have greatly increased the challenges of eliminating crime from our streets,” said Richardson.
He also said that a direct short-term consequence of the rebuilding of the police station had been the complete absence of holding cells in Plettenberg Bay for the duration of the construction, which meant that all those arrested in Plett had to be driven to Knysna for processing the arrest, once again stretching already limited police resources.
Whilst these issues had called into question the safety of Plettenberg Bay as a tourist destination, Richardson felt that on the whole there was a general lack of factual accuracy and a propensity to use inappropriate and emotive language when reporting on criminal activities, thus exaggerating the situation and inclining the reader toward fear.
He advised residents and visitors alike to be aware of the reality that opportunistic criminals exist, not only in Plett. He suggested that individuals be aware of commonly practiced and internationally adhered to safety principles such as not visiting isolated areas alone and not leaving valuables in plain sight so as to decrease the likelihood of falling victim to opportunistic attackers.
“In a disturbingly high percentage of cases, a criminal incident is preceded by careless behaviour on the part of the victim. In a perfect world we should be able to be careless and get away with it. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world and Plett is part of that world,” concluded Richardson.
Source: Knysna-Plett Herald