REPORTING CRIME TO THE POLICE

When crime occurs, victims may respond in several ways. In the case of some crimes, the initial reaction may be to report the incident to the police who are at the frontline of the criminal justice system and responsible for protecting citizens. On the other hand, victims may choose not to report the incident to the police for a variety of reasons. Reporting is far from consistent across crime types and depends on a range of factors, including perceptions of the police service.

Although the general distribution of crime types in official statistics resembles that of the victim survey, one can safely assume that actual crime levels may be higher than police figures suggest, since many incidents are not reported to the authorities. The extent to which official crime figures are accurate, or merely a reflection of reporting tendencies, can usefully be assessed by comparison to the victim survey data.

Victims were asked whether they, or someone else, had reported the most recent crimes they had experienced to the police.

Across crime types, the majority of cases were reported to the police. While these trends indicate that reporting is perhaps generally higher than expected in Cape Town (given the scepticism with which police performance and official crime statistics are regarded), the tendencies for reporting specific crimes to the police vary substantially across property and violent crimes. The following percentages of crimes had been reported to the police:

murder (93 per cent);


vehicle theft (93 per cent);


burglary (85 per cent);


hijacking (77 per cent);


robbery or mugging (47 per cent);


assault (43 per cent);


sexual assault (36 per cent); and


sexual harassment (25 per cent).

Reporting differs not only for different crime types, but also according to the experiences of different people. When broken down by racial categories across crime types, whites were the most likely to report crime to the police and coloured people the least likely.

Figure 8: Reporting by crime type

Property crimes

Insurance-related property crimes, such as vehicle theft, hijacking and burglary, have high reporting rates. Across property crimes, whites and those living in the former white suburbs are more likely to report crimes to the police. They are also more likely to be insured, according to the survey. For instance, 82 per cent of white victims of vehicle theft had insured their cars, compared to only 47,2 per cent of coloured victims.

In Cape Town, more than 90 per cent of car thefts and 85 per cent of burglaries were reported to the police. Given that Cape Town has notoriously high levels of these particular crimes, it is likely that many people do insure their property. The majority of vehicle theft victims were insured (64 per cent), while only 45 per cent of burglary victims had insured their property. Since insurance claims require a case number, this may compel victims to report the crime. This explanation is more convincing than that which suggests that victims report these crimes in the hope of recovering their property or punishing the offender. The survey found that those who were insured for vehicle theft and burglary are more likely to report such crimes to the police. Of those who reported burglaries to the police, 93 per cent were insured, while 78 per cent were not. Only 47 per cent of robbery or mugging victims reported these crimes to the police. In these cases, the police are often not notified, since the items stolen are unlikely to be insured (only 8 per cent had insured items), and the chances of the police recovering the property or arresting the perpetrator are slight.

Violent crimes

The reporting of violent interpersonal crimes is influenced by significantly different factors than for property crimes. The need for help often encourages people to report violent crimes, but a lack of confidence in the police, and fear or dislike by victims, can discourage reporting.27

The high reporting figure for murder (93 per cent) relates to the seriousness of the crime and the necessity for police involvement, for instance, to issue an official death certificate before a body can be buried. However, lack of reporting of a murder to the police does not necessarily mean the incident will not be reported in official figures, since the police or others may independently come across a murder victim's body. Those living in informal areas had a slightly lower reporting rate. Reporting rates for other violent crimes such as assault, however, are lower than for property crimes with only 43 per cent of assault victims contacting the police. This is probably because these crimes are regarded as less serious and because criminal justice action after reporting is unlikely. Many assault victims, especially coloured people, are repeat victims (48 per cent) and assault charges are often later withdrawn by the victim (usually because they know the offender and fear the consequences). However, the fact that most of these incidents involve the use of a weapon (over 60 per cent), and thus may cause serious injury, may incline victims or friends and families to report the attack.

On the basis of these reporting patterns, the victim survey indicates that police crime statistics for serious property crimes in Cape Town (and serious violent crimes which involve the theft of valuable items) are largely accurate. The same cannot be said for violent interpersonal crimes nor for sexual crimes. Those living in less affluent parts of Cape Town, such as the former coloured areas in the north and the former African and informal areas, are the least likely to report their experiences. Since the survey shows that these people are especially at risk of violent crime, it is likely that violent crime rates are even higher in Cape Town than official statistics suggest.

Sexual crimes

Of those who did respond to this part of the survey, 32 per cent of sexual assault victims reported the crime to the police, with white women the most likely to report such incidents. This figure is clearly much higher than police estimates of the number of cases of sexual assault which are reported (1 out of 35 cases). These findings must be viewed with caution, given both the size of the sample and the possibility that victims, for fear of being blamed, or seen as responsible, may have answered affirmatively. The survey results probably indicate that women who are prepared to report their experiences to the police are also likely to relate them in a survey interview. Only one quarter of sexual harassment victims reported the incident to the police, with African respondents less likely to do so (58 per cent).

REASONS FOR NOT REPORTING

Victims of crime in Cape Town who did not report crimes to the police were asked to list the reasons for their decision. Of those victims who had not reported an incident to the police, an open-ended response captured their explanations. The responses were grouped into five categories.

The following reasons, in order of frequency, were listed as explanations for not reporting crime to the police:

not necessary (38 per cent);


distrust of police or police not around (32 per cent);


threats or intimidation or embarrassed (22 per cent);


non-police channels used (5 per cent); and


incapacitated (3 per cent), for example, due to alcohol or injury.

The most common explanation for not reporting crimes to the police relates to the event itself. The explanation (usually given in developed countries) is that the crime was not serious enough. This is also the trend in Cape Town. A lack of evidence, inappropriate police action and the existence of compensation benefits for victims of violent crime are also factors which influence reporting. Also in line with local trends, the perception internationally of the attitude of the police and their effectiveness is the second most common reason given by victims, and is noted mostly in developing countries and countries in transition. Finally, victims sometimes prefer to deal with the incident themselves.28

The high percentage of those who did not report crimes, thinking it was not necessary (38 per cent), raises a number of questions about the seriousness with which people regard particular criminal incidents. Details about the degree of seriousness, however, were not asked in the questionnaire. The fact that there is still distrust of the police and that respondents thought the police are not around in particular areas (32 per cent) is concerning. The large number of victims who either felt embarrassed, threatened or intimidated (22 per cent), could indicate that victims of particular crimes, such as assault or sexual violence, have to live with the consequences of reporting their cases to the police. When measured against the risks they might encounter in taking such an action, reporting may not be feasible. That people were scared of gangs was also grouped into this category. This may also relate to the fear that the police will inform the accused of who reported the crime, with potentially violent repercussions.

Figure 9: Reasons for not reporting crime to the police



Women who did not report sexual assault incidents to the police cited three major reasons: they were too afraid, they knew the offender, or they were too ashamed to tell anyone. The two most common reasons why victims did not report sexual assaults to the police were that they were too afraid (38 per cent) and that they felt it was unnecessary (21 per cent). Fear of reprisal and intimidation as a reason for non-reporting among sexual assault victims is significantly higher than the 22,3 per cent across all crime types. Perhaps the wide range of harassing behaviour and the threatening, intimidating and violent form it may take, contributes to the reluctance of women to inform the police about the harassment. Furthermore, sexual assault victims and victims of sexual harassment often feel they are to blame, humiliated or embarrassed, thus intensifying the resistance to report. Others may deny, ignore or redefine the experience as a means of reducing the stress of victimisation.29

LEVELS OF SATISFACTION WITH THE POLICE

Those who had come into contact with the police were asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they had been with the way in which the police dealt with their report. The majority were dissatisfied with the police.

Levels of dissatisfaction according to different crime types were the following:

assault (69,7 per cent);


robbery or mugging (69,1 per cent);


murder (67 per cent);


hijacking (57,6 per cent);


burglary (56,1 per cent); and


vehicle theft (45 per cent).

Figure 10: Levels of satisfaction with the police by victims who had reported crime



Across crime types, except for vehicle theft, the majority of victims who reported crime to the police in Cape Town were almost equally dissatisfied with the way in which their report had been dealt with. Changing the perceptions that people have of the police is difficult. Even in developed countries where crime levels have stabilised and have begun decreasing in recent years, opinions of police effectiveness remain poor.30 Internationally, less than half of all victims tend to be satisfied with police services, with higher levels of satisfaction reported in western countries.

Overall, white victims were generally more satisfied with the way the police dealt with their reports, while below average levels of satisfaction were recorded for those victims living in less affluent areas of the city. This suggests that the quality of the service delivered by the police to different people and parts of Cape Town fluctuates. Another consideration is that the more affluent victims (who suffer largely from property crime) are less likely to be concerned with the recovery of property, since they have access to insurance.

Violent crimes

Victims of violent crimes were less satisfied with the police response than those reporting property crimes. For instance, 67 per cent of those who reported a murder to the police were dissatisfied by the response they received, and 69,7 per cent of people who reported assaults to the police were dissatisfied. Reasons for dissatisfaction which assault victims cited were slow or incompetent policing (27,7 per cent) and poor investigation (21,5 per cent). Of the robbery or mugging victims, 38 per cent felt that the police were slow and incompetent and were ineffective at investigating the incident (23 per cent). African and coloured victims were more dissatisfied than whites.

Property crimes

Those who reported property crimes, such as burglary and vehicle theft, on the other hand, were the most likely to be satisfied with police services. However, victims of vehicle theft expressed dissatisfaction with the police because of poor investigation (20,8 per cent) and slow or incompetent service provision (17,5 per cent).

Sexual crimes

The level of satisfaction with the police response to incidents of sexual assault was generally comparable to international trends in police responses to gender-based violence. The survey results confirm that poor service delivery and inappropriate behaviour of the police in sexual assault cases are widespread in South Africa, in that almost 60 per cent of victims were dissatisfied with the way the police dealt with their reports. African women, in particular, reported relatively high levels of dissatisfaction with the police (67 per cent), followed closely by coloured women (60 per cent), of whom 20 per cent said that the police treated them as though they were the criminals.

The high levels of dissatisfaction with the service provided by the police to those victims of crime in Cape Town who report their crimes, are of grave concern. Not only are cases less likely to proceed successfully without support from the victim and commitment from the police, but victims have one more reason not to report a crime the next time they are faced with the choice. Since the risk of repeat victimisation in Cape Town is high for coloured victims in particular, the chances of these victims being in a position to make this choice again are good. In this regard, the odds are already stacked against reporting: the likelihood of reporting to the police diminishes every time another crime is committed against the same victim.31 Based on a previous bad experience with the police, victims are unlikely to report repeat crimes.

Reporting crime to the police is important, not only because it is the first step towards securing arrest and conviction, but also because crime information informs police operations and other government and private sector planning processes. The police have a real interest in improving reporting levels and treating victims appropriately. Low levels of reporting, given that the true extent and nature of the crime will not be brought to their attention, affect the police's ability to control and prevent crime. Victims are likely to become alienated if the perception exists that there is nowhere for them to turn when faced with victimisation. As such, the proper treatment of victims will enhance the likelihood of reporting further crimes, improve respect for the law and is the easiest and most effective way for the police to improve their public image.32

Many of the problems mentioned by the victims of crime could be addressed through basic improvements at station level. But while the police in South Africa have some way to go in providing the service their name suggests, public opinion is unlikely to improve dramatically. Expectations of what the police should achieve seem to rise faster than what they can achieve, and the police in most countries do not satisfy victims' demands.33