NO. The South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Facebook and Twitter pages are not for emergencies and you cannot report a crime there. The primary aim of the SAPS’s use of the social media is engagement with communities and sharing information. It is not an immediate response mechanism.

If you spot a crime or suspicious activity, please remember that there is no substitute for 10111, or call your nearest police station. It is important for people to call 10111 in an emergency, because the operators are trained to ask specific questions to determine the best course of action. A Facebook post or a tweet cannot provide all the details which an operator would need to dispatch an emergency vehicle. By using social media platforms to report crime, we can jeopardise public safety.

If you want to blow the whistle on criminals and their activities anonymously, the Crime Stop Call Centre may be contacted at 08600 10111. Crime Stop is a national contact centre staffed with well-trained investigative interviewers, who all have at least basic detective training. They assist callers to provide usable information on criminals, their criminal conduct and their whereabouts. This contact centre is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You can also download the My SAPS App which is a free, crime-reporting mobile application available for smart phones on Google Play store, Apple App store and for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) string on featured phones by dialing *134*10111#. The App allows citizens to interact with law enforcement officials more effectively, by providing tip-offs anonymously through the App and finding the nearest police stations and facilities.

The SAPS is committed to creating a safe and secure environment for all the people in South Africa. You can contribute towards the fight against crime by giving us information on any suspicious people and suspicious activities you know about.