Understanding the nature and extent of crime is critical in ensuring appropriate policy interventions for its resolution. A victim survey is an important resource in helping to achieve this. Such surveys are independent means of supplementing police information through questioning a representative sample of the population in any defined geographic location. Victim surveys measure both citizens' actual experience of victimisation, as well as more general perceptions of safety. Therefore, victim surveys are crucial in providing information on crime, policing and options for crime prevention in any area.

More specifically, victim surveys aim at achieving four goals:

Determine the nature and extent of crime in any geographic area: In particular, victim surveys - while not directly comparable to police statistics (see below) - provide useful information on the 'dark figure' of crime which have not been reported to the police, and are thus not reflected in official statistics. Victim surveys are useful in compiling victim profiles and determining those most at risk of being repeatedly victimised.



Measure levels of fear of crime among different sectors of the population: It should be noted that the perceptual data generated by victim surveys also include the opinions of those who have not been victimised. By doing so, they provide an indication of how citizens respond to crime and their fear of it.



Determine public perceptions of police effectiveness and service delivery: In this way, victim surveys provide a benchmark against which improvements in the public's perception of the police can be measured, as well as the basis of suggestions for possible interventions.



Provide useful information to inform policy-making: Such data assist policy-makers in designing appropriate interventions with regard to a range of crime prevention and policing strategies.

METHODOLOGY

The Cape Town victim survey is the third city survey conducted by the Institute for Security Studies. Surveys have also been conducted in Johannesburg (July 1997) and Durban (January 1998). These provide some interesting comparative data. The survey questionnaire was based on the international crime victim survey, conducted in almost 60 countries at city level. It was adapted with the assistance of international experts to meet South African needs. Almost 6 000 people were interviewed in Cape Town during the course of the survey. Questionnaires were administered to people on the street in a wide variety of places. Interviews took place in carefully selected areas across the Cape Town metropolitan area (see Appendix 3). The survey results were subsequently weighted by age, race, gender and area and are thus representative of crime trends and perceptions across the Cape Town metropolitan area.

The following points should be noted in relation to the survey:

The Cape Town victim survey establishes important baseline data for strategic planning around crime and policing issues, with a particular focus on crime prevention interventions. The survey provides useful management information to inform the debate at city, provincial and national level.



Future surveys can build on this data by analysing trends in relation to the extent of crime, public fears of crime and perceptions of the police, in order to measure improvements.



The victim survey cannot easily be compared to police statistics as police areas do not necessarily match the metropolitan boundaries of Cape Town within which the survey was conducted. Nor do the definitions of specific crime types always match those used by the police.



It should be noted that race is consistently the most significant variable in analysing the results of victim surveys both in South Africa and elsewhere. This is primarily as a result of the fact that race largely correspond to socio-economic patterns in society. The use of such race categories (African, coloured, white) is standard in victim surveys.



It is widely recognised that victim surveys covering a wide spectrum of crimes do not adequately reflect the true extent of gender violence. This applies, in particular, to sexual assault and sexual harassment.



The murder statistics captured by the survey reflect the responses of the victims' immediate family or household members. In cities like Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, characterised by historically high levels of urbanisation, many people retain close links with relatives and households in other parts of the country. Thus the murder figure reflected by the victim survey is not representative of the Cape Town metropolitan area. This , however, does not undermine the negative experience of such victimisation within these households.

The data captured by the victim survey is very detailed. For example, the survey captured the actual places which respondents felt were particularly unsafe in Cape Town, such as specific street names. However, this report is confined to the identification of broad patterns of victimisation, of which the main findings are outlined below.

THE EXTENT AND NATURE OF CRIME IN CAPE TOWN

Almost half of Cape Town's residents (49,6 per cent) were victims of crime over a five-year period (1993-1997). Cape Town thus has a lower level of victimisation across crime types compared to Johannesburg (63 per cent) and Durban (59 per cent).



Reporting to the police varied according to crime type. Most property crimes are well reported, while only about half of some violent and interpersonal crimes (such as assault) ever come to the police's attention (see figure 8).



The main reason cited by citizens for not reporting incidents to the police was that it was unnecessary to do so given the seriousness of the offence (38 per cent). This was followed by respondents' perceptions that the police were not around or were not to be trusted (32 per cent) (see figure 9). Of those victims who reported crimes to the police, the majority were not satisfied with the way in which the police dealt with their reports.



Between 1993 and 1997, levels of victimisation in Cape Town were as follows: burglary (18,1 per cent); robbery or mugging (15,6 per cent); vehicle theft (13,5 per cent); murder (9 per cent); assault (7,8 per cent) and hijacking (2,3 per cent). Burglary is thus the most common crime affecting the city's residents. This is true across race groups.



African and coloured residents of Cape Town are mostly affected by violent and property crime, while white residents are disproportionately affected by property crime (see figure 5, figure 6 and figure 7). The victim survey indicates that those residents most at risk of crime are coloured men between the ages of 21 and 35 (see figure 2).



Crime levels as reported to the victim survey for the years 1996 and 1997, do not indicate dramatic increases in crime in Cape Town (see figure 4). According to the survey, assault and robbery showed small increases, while burglary and vehicle theft showed small decreases. While this provides some indication of overall crime trends, the only way in which changes in crime levels can be measured more accurately by victim surveys is through conducting similar surveys at regular intervals.

SPECIFICS OF CRIMINAL VICTIMISATION

The vast majority of criminal victimisation reported to the survey occurred over the weekend. This was particularly the case for violent crimes, such as murder, assault and robbery or mugging.



Victims of violent crime were the most at risk when visiting places of, or engaging in entertainment (see figure 12 and figure 14). Although the survey did not test it, a close correlation between some categories of violent crime, such as assault and alcohol consumption, has been suggested by the results. Also, most assault and murder victims were reported to have been in a group, rather than alone, when the incident occurred (see figure 16).



In the case of violent crime, a large proportion of victims knew their offenders either by name or by sight (see figure 17). This was much higher than in Johannesburg.



The survey attempted to capture the extent of domestic violence. In particular, the vast majority of sexual assault victims knew their offenders by name or sight and most incidents occurred in the home or homes of families and friends (see figure 13).



Seventeen per cent of respondents reported being a victim of the same crime type more than once (see figure 19). Coloured respondents were the most likely to be repeat victims across crime types (see figure 20).



For the first time, the survey captured people's perceptions of gangs in their area in Cape Town. Of those respondents living in former coloured areas in the north of Cape Town, 96,7 per cent believed there were gangs operating there (see figure 31). The high perceptions of gang activity in the Cape Flats and the former coloured suburbs in the south of Cape Town are consistent with general perceptions. Most surprising was the 81 per cent of people living in African areas who thought gangs were operating there. This provides the first concrete indication of the growth of gang activity in these areas and is confirmed by police information.



The survey also attempted to measure the extent to which victims believed their crime was gang-related. Robbery or mugging and murder reflected high levels of gang-related activity (see figure 33).



The survey findings suggest more generally that gang-related crimes instil high levels of fear across the city, and particularly in areas where gang activities are prominent.

FEAR OF CRIME

The vast majority of Cape Town residents (77 per cent) believe that, compared to previous years, crime has increased in their areas (see figure 27). This perception applies across race and residential area (see figure 29). However, it is likely that these opinions are based on a number of prominent criminal incidents, including gang-related violence, at the time the survey was conducted. Despite this, and while difficult to measure accurately, this finding suggests that fear of crime in the city is high and that such fears and perceptions are likely to continue in the run-up to the election.

Feelings of insecurity and high levels of fear of crime have several sources, not least of which is the experience of actual victimisation and the perception that effective assistance may be unlikely. Perceptions can also be influenced by the media, although direct links between fear of crime and media reporting are difficult to substantiate.

The complexity of the issue of fear of crime is borne out by the fact that different people feel unsafe in different places in Cape Town. While Africans and coloured respondents were more likely to fear crime in their areas of residence, white respondents, while feeling safer at home, were more likely to fear victimisation in the city centre (see figure 23).

Fear of crime in the inner city probably relates for whites to the actual risk of victimisation - particularly robbery and mugging - in the central business district in comparison with the suburbs. Fear of crime is also influenced by perceptions of governance issues relating to the management of, among others, litter, overcrowding and street trading. This racial breakdown of fear in the city centre is also prevalent in Johannesburg and Durban.

There is little difference in the levels of fear of crime between victims and non-victims. This suggests a high level of fear among all citizens, even among those who have not experienced crime. In particular, fear of crime was the highest at night when the majority of both victims and non-victims felt very unsafe (see figure 24).

The victim survey suggests, however, that fear of crime does not necessarily match the risk of victimisation and that issues related to fear of crime need to be confronted as a policy challenge in their own right. In particular, respondents were more likely to feel safer after having changed their behaviour by taking precautions or other protective measures. Of concern however, is that 85 per cent of people living in Cape Town have no form of protection for their dwellings. In particular, poorer communities were the least likely to have forms of protection, with more than 80 per cent of African and coloured respondents having no protection (see figure 22).

PERCEPTIONS OF THE POLICE

Evaluating police effectiveness in controlling crime is based on general feelings of safety (see above), the types of crime which people have been victims of, as well as the actual police performance in the areas in which people reside.

The majority of respondents (52,7 per cent) in Cape Town felt that the police were not doing a good job in controlling crime in their areas (see figure 40). This is ten per cent less than the comparative figure of 62 per cent of Johannesburg citizens who do not believe the police to be effective. In contrast, 22,8 per cent of the survey respondents in Cape Town felt that the police were doing a good job - a higher proportion than in both Johannesburg and Durban.

The majority of citizens thought that the police were doing a poor job because they viewed police responses as slow and inadequate. The lack of visible patrolling (20 per cent) often important in reducing the fear of crime, was the next most cited reason for the police doing a poor job. Unprofessional attitudes (17 per cent), followed by corruption (12 per cent) were further reasons.

However, these perceptions varied along racial lines (see figure 41).While this is consistent with the findings of the Durban and Johannesburg surveys, the distinction is more pronounced in Cape Town. Coloured people (67,3 per cent) and Africans (50,9 per cent) are more likely than whites (38,6 per cent) to think that the police are doing a poor job in controlling crime in their areas. Among others, this may relate to continued distrust between the police and citizens in some areas, as well as the skewed distribution of resources.

A more detailed breakdown of citizen perceptions of policing again shows the importance of race in defining perceptions (see figure 44). Whites are the most likely to think the police's conduct is professional (50,8 percent). They are also more inclined to perceive the police as doing a good job despite being hampered by high crime rates (12,8 per cent). By contrast, coloured respondents are the least likely to believe the police are professional and able to control crime. Africans are more inclined than any other group to think that the police lack government support (25 per cent). This is substantially more than the ten per cent attributed to this reason among coloureds and whites in Cape Town.

MAKING CAPE TOWN SAFER

Despite the poor perceptions of police performance outlined above, most residents of Cape Town look to the police both to ensure a safer city, as well as to provide assistance immediately after victimisation has occurred. Indeed, the majority of residents (28,2 per cent) believed that more resources should be given to the police. This was followed by assertions that better policing and law enforcement would go some way in reducing crime (see figure 34). This suggests that citizens believe that the police remain primarily responsible for maintaining their safety.

While there was general agreement across race groups that more resources to the police and better policing were the solutions to crime, race was the key variable in determining other solutions proposed for making Cape Town a safer place. The majority of African respondents believed that development was the solution to high levels of crime while most white people believed that harsher penalties were the solution (see figure 35). Those with no schooling were much more likely to believe that development were key to the reduction in crime (see figure 36).

The survey also questioned respondents on the role that they could play as individual citizens in making Cape Town a safer place. Eighteen per cent of people living in Cape Town believe there is nothing they can do individually. Although high, this figure is lower than in Johannesburg and Durban. The majority of people who felt they could do something saw participating in community activities as important. This applies across race (see figure 39) and is consistent with the history of community involvement which characterises much of the Western Cape. Co-operation with the police by individuals is also seen as important.

In the light of the growing initiatives to empower victims of crime, both on a national and provincial level, the type of support which victims would have preferred, was questioned. The majority of victims across crime types wanted emotional support or counselling (for which they turn to family and friends and the police, before specialised agencies of which there was little awareness) followed by effective policing and protection. This confirms international findings that victims do not necessarily want financial compensation, but rather want to be protected effectively by a professional police service which is sympathetic to their basic needs, such as information on the way in which their cases are progressing.