Claims of South Africa being a mecca for organised crime are based on speculation, the police’s head statistician said on Thursday.
Measuring the contribution of organised crime to the country’s general crime statistics is a near-impossible feat, said assistant commissioner Chris de Kock, head of the police’s crime information analysis centre.
”It is quite a dilemma,” he said in a lecture at the University of Pretoria.
Much of the picture of organised crime in South Africa is based on perceptions and feelings, De Kock said — baseless statements being repeated.
”It is full of perception, and things that look like facts, but we can’t find the facts.”
There is, for example, no evidence to prove a widely held belief that South Africa is a ”hub” for drug trafficking, or that there is any human trafficking going on, he said.
There is, similarly, nothing to back up reports that there are about 35 000 child prostitutes in South Africa.
”There is no way we can establish that,” De Kock said. ”There is no evidence for these claims, and they are doing the country harm.”
While conceding that all the potential for growth in organised crime exists in South Africa, he disputed claims that up to half of cars stolen in South Africa are smuggled to neighbouring countries, saying the figure is probably closer to 5%.
Reports that South Africa is one of the main producers of cannabis in the world is ”absolute nonsense”.
South Africa is not the only country to have difficulty accurately tracking organised crime trends, De Kock said.
The country has recently introduced a new organised crime-threat analysis process, which he said has many problems.
The process is based on information obtained from station level. Police officers are not trained researchers, De Kock pointed out, and might not always ask the right questions. They are also not academics, and most hate writing up reports.
This all contributes to ”a lack of usable information”, he said.
With such a shortage of facts, it is sometimes difficult for the police to determine how and where to focus its organised crime efforts, and how to use its money correctly on fighting the scourge.
But organised crime and intelligence units are continuing their work and arresting people on a daily basis, De Kock said.
”There is still a little bit of doubt if everything is organised crime.”
For a crime to qualify as ”organised”, it has to comply with several definitions — including that it has to involve three or more people, amount to a serious offence and be committed over a prolonged period of time in pursuit of profit or power. — Sapa