[ad_1]
The Gallup global poll group has released the results of its latest poll investigating perceptions of crime and the police in 144 countries.
The group conducted more than 1,000 personal and telephone interviews in each country (152,000 responses) asking people about crime levels in their area, how safe they felt walking the streets, and how much confidence they had in their police force. local.
The Gallup Law and Order Index is a composite score based on people’s trust in their local police force, their feelings of personal safety, and the incidence of robberies and assaults in the past year.
The higher the score, the greater the proportion of the population that says they feel safe.
South Africa fell in the last index, with a score of 57, and now ranks as the 5th most dangerous country out of 144 countries covered.
It only ranked above Liberia, Venezuela, Gabon and Afghanistan.
According to Gallup, nearly seven in 10 people worldwide said they feel safe walking alone at night and trust their local police (69%).
About one in eight (12%) said property was stolen from themselves or another family member in the past year, and 6% said they were mugged or robbed. These numbers were virtually unchanged from last year’s survey.
However, in contrast to the global findings, South Africans live in fear and have little trust in local authorities. For example, only 29% of South Africans feel safe walking alone.
While the Gallup index is based on the perceptions of a country’s citizens of their own safety and security, the findings are consistent with several other sources that describe South Africa as one of the least safe places in the world.
The 2020 Global Peace Index again pointed to the country’s high murder and crime rate for lowering its safety and protection rating, while violent cities ranked by Peace, Justice and Security once again featured local cities as some of the most violent.
Crime statistics
South Africa’s crime problems were highlighted again in the most recent statistics, presented by the South African Police Service (SAPS).
While the statistics reflected an overall decrease in crime, this was due to the country being under lockdown during the review period. As the lockdown has eased, crime levels have slowly returned to normal.
It is concerning that, despite the lower number of murders, the country still recorded more than 5,000 murders in just three months. Statistically, this means that 55 people are killed in South Africa every day.
In annual crime statistics (spanning April 2019 through March 2020), murders increased 1.4% to 21,325 reported cases. This is equivalent to 58 people murdered in the country every day, at a rate of 35.8 people per 100,000 inhabitants.
The murder rate in South Africa has been compared to literal war zones, where conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan range from 38 to 200 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
Read: The Latest Crime Statistics From South Africa – Everything You Need To Know
[ad_2]
