CASH-IN-TRANSIT XXX
The latest #crimestatssa
Retail businesses still operate in a danger zone
Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, announced the national crime statistics for 2018/19 earlier thsi month, highlighting that South African retail businesses still operate in a danger zone.
“A
s an industry, we commend period, decreased by 12 per cent compared government and law to the previous period (2,272), while enforcement for their efforts in burglary attacks dropped by 13 per cent ensuring a decline in business, (631). bank and CIT robberies. Although the latest “We are encouraged by the 23 per cent #crimestatssa show an improvement, the drop in attacks against retail cash devices reality is that South African businesses are among the CGCSA retail members in the still experiencing high crime levels, with 55 first eight months of this year,” adds Mr armed robbery attacks and 195 burglaries Phillips. a day – this remains a huge concern, and The Cash in Transit (CIT) industry is a begs for greater efforts by all concerned,” critical service provider to the economy says Richard Phillips, joint CEO of Cash and its performance has a direct impact Connect. on retailers across the country. While we According to the Minister, non-residential applaud the reduction of 23 per cent in robberies declined by a mere 56 incidents violent attacks against the CIT companies (0.28 per cent) in the year ending for the reported period, we note that in the February 2019 from 20 047 to first eight months of this year, incidents 19 991, while non-residential of CIT robbery have escalated to an burglaries increased by 29 average of over eight incidents a attacks (0,04 per cent) from week and suggests that the justice 71 195 to 71 224. cluster’s co-ordinated approach, as The Consumer Goods promised by the Minister last year, Council of SA confirms that has not properly materialised. armed robbery attacks against The national crime statistics released their retail members Richard Phillips, Joint CEO: today, show clear similarities Cash Connect over the same reported between CIT robberies and retail
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SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA SEPTEMBER 2019
cash crime – supporting our opinion that the same organised syndicates are often involved in committing these crimes. As South Africa’s leader in automated cash management and payment solutions, Cash Connect’s intelligent technology has proven to be the most effective crime deterrent in the local retail sector. “Statistics demonstrate that the risk of armed robberies at retail stores is greatly
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