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But household burglary up

The latest published crime statistics have shown a decrease in key areas that concern the short term insurance industry.

The SA Insurance Association (SAIA) says it commends Business Against Crime for a job well done. Comments Corporate Affairs Manager of the SAIA, Viviene Pearson, "We have experienced an overall decline in car-jackings over the past four years (down 21,5% between 2001 and 2005), and a huge reduction in truck hijacking incidents (from 3 333 in 2001/2002 to 930 in 2004/2005)."

This was also accompanied by a decrease of 13% over the same period for theft of motor vehicles.

"Similarly, incidents of theft from motor vehicles have decreased by 25% over this four year period."

One area of concern for insurers is a slight increase in the house robbery figures. This is, however, not huge with 9 391 incidents reported for the 2004/2005 period, compared to 9 063 for 2002/2003.

On the other hand, declining figures for burglaries at residential premises (8,75% over the four-year period from 2001/2002 - 2004/2005), burglaries at business premises (35,6%), and business robberies (5 498 incidents in 2002/2003 to 3 320 incidents in 2004/2005) bode well for the future. Arson figures have stayed relatively stable over this period, which is also good news for short-term insurers.

During the past four years the SAIA has donated in excess of R5 million to Business Against Crime.

In addition, the SAIA has been actively involved in the initiatives of BAC. These include: the BAC Vehicle Task Team, the establishment of the Vehicle Hijacking Units, border control initiatives, vehicle identification, testing stations, licensing, deregistration, information sharing, and the establishment of the Commercial Crime Courts.