Durban — Police trade unions said the blame for rising crime statistics should not be placed on the police alone.
The unions said this after Police Minister Bheki Cele released the latest crime statistics on Friday.
They said the statistics should be viewed taking into account the broader socio-economic conditions faced by the populace, including their implications, and that the conditions law enforcement officers have to contend with should be brought to the public’s attention.
The national spokesperson of the SA Policing Union (Sapu), Lesiba Thobakgale, said Cele should release crime statistics along with a plan, and not “just scare the citizens of South Africa”.
“The minister is just putting fear into citizens to say this is how bad crime is, but there is nothing that his department is doing; there is no plan that he comes up with. The minister should stop issuing crime stats without a plan,” he said.
Thobakgale said they have put forward proposals that could assist in reducing crime, including the re-establishment of the specialised unit dealing with murder and robbery. He said this unit will be able to prevent most of these crimes.
There was no need for summits and imbizos when everyone knew what the solution to the crime problem was. There had been a lot of summits and nothing from them was implemented, he said.
“The national commissioner should be allowed to do his job instead of attending imbizos with the minister of police. He needs to spend time in his office and come up with plans and solutions. We also want to know why the Crime Intelligence chief position is not filled after the departure of Lieutenant-General Peter Jacobs, and why there is a lack of a divisional commissioner under crime intelligence.
“Crime intelligence plays a critical role in crime and threats that we see in this country. We also want to know why the deputy national commissioner of detectives has not been appointed,” he said.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) spokesperson Richard Mamabolo noted the recorded minimal reductions in some crime categories during the covered period. He said the minimal reductions should be of concern to the SAPS.
“Crime statistics are supposed to serve as a tool with which to provide our law enforcement agencies with data for use in determining budgetary formulations, planning and the allocation of resources and police operations.
“This puts to question the extent within which resources are channelled to stations in ensuring that they are able to service communities.
“These incapacities include the uneven allocation of resources, poor working conditions, and shortages of ammunition and training, among others. Such unabated patterns are but a reflection of the deep-rooted capacity challenges faced by our police officers across different communities, wherein despite being aware of the crime conditions, are limited by the availability of resources to make any real interventions,” said Mamabolo.
He said they were calling for an urgent crime summit that will address escalating levels of violent crime, abuse of women and children, violent protests, drug trafficking and unabated police killings.
“We further call for the criminal justice cluster to address its fragmented structures as it is currently operating in silos, with different departments operating differently while relying on each other’s inputs in conducting their mandated functions.”
There was a need to establish synergy between the Department of Correctional Services, the SAPS and the judiciary, he said, with the SAPS accounting for the arrest made, the judiciary accounting for the number of convictions and prosecutions, and the Department of Correctional Services accounting for the number of incarcerations.
Daily News