The South African Police Service has made great strides in reducing serious crime levels, although certain categories of crime have increased, National Commissioner Jackie Selebi said yesterday.

Briefing the media on the SAPS annual report for 2002/03 - tabled in Parliament yesterday - he said murders dropped by 1,3% during the period under review, and rape by 5,3%.

Since 1994, the incidence of murder had now dropped by 29,5%.

There was a significant decrease in high profile (sensational) cases of aggravated robbery.

Hijacking of motor vehicles dropped by 20,2%, and bank-related robberies (bank robberies and cash-in-transit heists) by 15,4%.

Both these categories of crime had reached the lowest levels since 1996/97.

However, other aggravated robberies, street robbery, and housebreaking had increased, Selebi said.

Increases in various robbery categories, and the recent spate of "violent and horrendous crimes, remained a concern to the SAPS.

Police had made enormous efforts to reduce levels of serious crime.

This occurred against a backdrop of increasing generators of conditions conducive to crime, such as rapid urbanisation, changing demographics in society, increasing number of households, and increasing levels of substance abuse.

With the exception of aggrevated robbery, the SAPS had reached most of its targets set out in the National Crime Combating Strategy (NCCS) for reducing the incidence of murder, rape and assault.

Commercial crime dropped by 5,7%, theft of motor vehicles by 5,8%, and theft out of motor vehicles by 3,6%.

But, other thefts and malicious damage to property increased by 5,4% and 5,9% respectively.

Selebi said the increase in other thefts should be understood within the context that this crime mainly involved the loss of small and often not uniquely identifiable items, such as money, jewellery, cellphones, and tools.

According to the annual report, contact crimes, or crimes against the person, such as murder and attempted murder, rape and attempted rape, assault, and aggrevated robbery, accounted for 39,9% of serious crime reported. – Sapa.