{"id":226821,"date":"2018-02-25T18:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-25T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=226821"},"modified":"2018-02-26T11:17:22","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T09:17:22","slug":"robbery-hijacking-and-break-in-crime-trends-in-south-africa-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/226821\/robbery-hijacking-and-break-in-crime-trends-in-south-africa-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Robbery, hijacking and break-in crime trends in South Africa in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Security company Fidelity ADT has released its latest crime trends based on its security data collected over the course of 2017.<\/p>\n

The security company is currently the biggest in South Africa with more than 370,000 customers, over 30% of market share in the country, and over 10% geographical coverage.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BusinessTech on Wednesday (21 February), national subscriber sales manager at Fidelity ADT, Rob Dale, said that despite its size and coverage, Fidelity ADT’s security and crime trends tend to differ from national SAPS data because its clients are typically middle- or upper-income home owners in the 7-10 LSM range.<\/p>\n

“The SAPS have their own challenges and difficulties and understandably send their resources to the highest crime areas – which are typically lower-income,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This opens up space for the private security industry in South Africa, who are more present in higher-income areas, and where you will typically find the taxpayer.”<\/p>\n

However, Dale said that the Fidelity ADT was still heavily reliant on the SAPS and considered them strong partners. This is especially true because the security company is only contracted with a right to operate on specific properties.<\/p>\n

“We theoretically have no mandate in the public space. What we can do, is act as eyes and ears to help alert the authorities, and act as a visible deterrent – but we can’t stop or search any individual.<\/p>\n

“However, because of the security company’s sheer size, it is still able to detect some meaningful crime trends based on its data,” he said.<\/p>\n

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Averages per month<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fidelity ADT said that it typically receives around 16,000 alarm notifications a day, of which it responds to around 6,000.<\/p>\n

This rather large deficit is primarily due to false alarms – however, even after responding to a notification it may still be the case that someone failed to answer their phone or accidentally triggered a system.<\/p>\n

The following monthly averages of crime alerts do not include false alarms:<\/p>\n