SAPS admits to releasing skewed crime rates — but that it doesn't matter
The revision comes after fact-checking website Africa Check noticed an error
The South African Police Service admitted on Friday that it had released skewed crime rates on Tuesday — but said the error did not affect the number of crimes recorded. “Based on the advice from Stats SA regarding the correct estimates to use for the computation of the crime rates‚ the police hereby issue a revision of the crime rates based on the 2017 mid-year population estimates as at the end of September‚” the SAP said on its website on Friday. https://www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php “The revision of the estimates will neither affect the raw crime numbers nor the nine-year crime rate trend but will only affect the last rate in the 10-year series, that is, the 2017-2018 crime rate.” Crime rates are computed as the number of crimes per 100‚000 citizens over a given period. This helps the comparison of crimes over time because it allows for population growth. The revision comes after fact-checking website Africa Check noticed an error.
Police spokesperson Col Athlend...
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