The heatmap illustrates the distribution of contact crimes reported by the South African Police Service (SAPS) across various precincts in South Africa. Each precinct is colour-coded according to its reported crime levels.

The precincts are ranked numerically by reported crime levels and divided into four groups, known as quartiles, each representing 25% of the precincts.

• The first 25% represents the precincts with the lowest reported crime levels, marked in green.
• The second 25% represents the precincts with the next lowest reported crime levels, marked in yellow.
• The third 25% represents the precincts with the second-highest reported crime levels, marked in orange.
• The final 25% represents the precincts with the highest reported crime levels, marked in red.

In addition to these four divisions, there is a separate classification for the 30 precincts with the highest reported crime levels, which are marked in dark maroon. These 30 precincts are considered the most crime-affected, based on data provided by SAPS, and are distinguished from the quartile divisions.

SAPS has acknowledged the underreporting of certain crimes and the possibility that crimes may be recorded in precincts other than those in which they actually occurred.

The map can be used to assess reported crime levels in areas where you may be travelling or residing. Additional features, such as filtering by specific crime types and other metrics, will be incorporated in future updates.