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Accurate information about crime is essential for the planning, design and monitoring of a crime reduction strategy. Information is needed not only about crime levels, but also about the resources and capacity available in an area to assist in crime reduction projects, as well as the views of the public about crime and safety. Victim surveys are one way of gathering this information. They supplement police statistics by providing data on unreported crimes. Victim surveys also show who is most at risk of becoming a victim and what the public think the priority issues are in their area.
The Institute for Security Studies has conducted four city victim surveys in recent years to help city governments when planning their crime reduction strategies. Surveys were conducted in Johannesburg (July 1997), Durban (December 1997), Cape Town (February 1998) and Pretoria (April 1998). The ISS has more recently conducted victim surveys in two local council areas, Highveld Ridge in Mpumalanga (June 2000) and Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape (July 2000). These surveys are also being used to design crime reduction strategies for the councils.
This monograph is the first to include both the victim survey results and the crime reduction strategy which the survey findings helped to inform. It provides an example of the initial steps in the difficult task of reducing crime in South Africa’s cities — gathering and analysing information and using this to design a strategy that is focused, clear and measurable.
The aim of the monograph is to assist those involved in crime reduction by broadening the understanding of crime in one particular city and by providing a practical example of a crime reduction strategy. This is complemented by some background details on its development and how it will be implemented. It is hoped that by documenting and sharing experience in this manner, the many promising initiatives under way in South Africa will be encouraged and improved.
Antoinette Louw
Head: Crime and Justice Programme, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria
July 2001
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