Cape Town – Media coverage of crimes such as mall robberies offers potential lessons for copycats, national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega said on Tuesday.
“You know when you go to [the internet] to learn how to fix a car, people also learn how to do that [with crime in the media],” she told journalists.
During her presentation of the 2014/15 national crime statistics in Parliament, she had commented that the quantity of media coverage could have a “direct influence or breed further perpetration of crime”.
She later clarified that reporting was a double-sided coin and there was a lot of good being done.
“Through publications and stories that go out, there is also very good crime-prevention awareness that is being done,” she said.
“I really believe media has a critical role to work with us and assist us.”
Source – News24
South Africa Today – South Africa News
