A Web site launched a week ago to monitor South African crime has had an overwhelming response from members of the public, receiving 24 000 hits since its launch, says site owner Spero Patricious.
Patricious, who is MD of the Ornico Group software company, came up with the idea for the site after he heard a report on the radio about the lack of crime statistics in SA.
"With the lack of information on crime, we decided to launch a site that would not only allow people to report crimes, but find out where they are happening," he says.
"The site is very simple, allowing respondents to state information about the crime, right down to its exact location. Users can then also search the site to get information about what crime has happened in their area or even in their street," he says.
News of the site has spread quickly, mostly by word of mouth, with 400 crimes being reported since the site was launched, Patricious says. The majority of the reports have come from the Western Cape (86 reports), Gauteng (79) and KwaZulu-Natal (46).
Patricious says he aims to add more functionality to the site as well as follow up on the crimes that are reported.
"We are looking to possibly approach Statistics SA to validate the reports and statistics that the site generates. We are also looking to possibly put a section on the site about crimes that have been solved by the police," he says.
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