Government interventions in the war on crime can’t succeed “if our crime statistics continue to be – as they have been in the past — woefully compromised”.

That’s according to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Dianne Kohler Barnard MP‚ speaking ahead of Tuesday’s release of the annual crime statistics in Parliament.

A DA statement said the party wants an independent audit of the figures that will be released in Cape Town.

Kohler Barnard said: “Statistics should be viewed as a tool for quality intervention in the form of targeted resource allocations and SAPS strategies.”

This‚ she said‚ would be preferable to government’s policy of using “crime statistics as a measure of SAPS performance” as the current “system of incentivising a decrease in crime rates often serves to incentivize under-reporting by the police”.

“For instance‚ instead of simply saying murder has increased‚ we need to look at the reasons for this and then target interventions such as specialised crime units to address the issue‚” Kohler Barnard said.

Kohler Barnard added that “aside from under-reporting…the statistics are open to manipulation as they are not independently audited”.

“This problem became clear two years ago when it was discovered that the SAPS had used incorrect population figures to calculate the various crime ratios which led to an understating of increases in various categories‚” she explained‚ adding that in independent audit should be conducted on the latest stats.

The frequency of reporting was also an issue for the DA.

“The statistics that will be released by the SAPS tomorrow are already out of date. At the time of release‚ using the current model‚ they will already be at least six months to a year old and will not reflect current crime patterns or trends‚” Kohler Barnard said.

“Thus‚ while the annual crime statistics are of interest to establish historical trends‚ they are not useful for the purposes of designing or assessing crime prevention initiatives by either the government or communities.”

The DA would like for “real-time crime statistics to be publically available at every SAPS station so that tailored and localised responses to crime can be formulated and implemented timeously”.

As well as this‚ Kohler Barnard called for quarterly statistics to be presented to Parliament.

“Both of these proposals can be achieved if the SAPS look to modernise methods of data collection. For instance‚ the SAPS should use hand-held consoles or smart phones linked directly to police stations. This would allow SAPS officers to update crimes reported and arrests made in real time.”