DA calls for independent audit of 2014/15 crime stats

These were remarks made by the DA’s Shadow Minister of Police, Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, and DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Police, Zakhele Mbhele MP, at a press conference in Parliament ahead of the release of the annual crime statistics on Tuesday, 29 September 2015.

Crime affects South Africans every single day. We do not feel safe in our homes, our places of work, on the road and even in our police stations.

This needs to change if South Africa is to succeed. That is why the DA’s vision for South Africa is one in which our country is safer than ever before, with a competent, well-equipped police service finally turning the tide against crime. 

To do this, we need our national government to make the necessary interventions that will allow us to finally win the war on crime. This cannot happen if our crime statistics continue to be – as they have been in the past  - woefully compromised; both in the way they are reported, and in how they are acted upon by our national government. 

Ahead of the release of the 2014/2015 Crime Statistics, there are a number of key issues which the DA believes should be at the forefront of analysis

Crime statistics as a measure of performance

The DA believes the policy decision of the ANC government to use crime statistics as a measure of SAPS performance must be stopped. The system of incentivizing a decrease in crime rates often serves to incentivize under-reporting by the police. This is counter-intuitive.

The focus on statistics as a measure of performance means that solutions are sought in the wrong places.

Statistics should be viewed as a tool for quality intervention in the form of targeted resource allocations and SAPS strategies. For instance, instead of simply saying murder has increased, we need to look at the reasons for this and then target interventions such as specialised crime units to address the issue.

Real-time information needed for interventions 

The statistics that will be released by the SAPS tomorrow are already out of date. At the time of release, using the current model, they will already be at least six months to a year old and will not reflect current crime patterns or trends. Thus, while the annual crime statistics are of interest to establish historical trends, they are not useful for the purposes of designing or assessing crime prevention initiatives by either the government or communities. 

The DA has therefore proposed that South Africa requires real-time crime statistics to be publically available at every SAPS station so that tailored and localised responses to crime can be formulated and implemented timeously.  

In order for these crime stats to have more value, they must be reported by way of comprehensive quarterly reports presented to Parliament. Both of these proposals can be achieved if the SAPS look to modernise methods of data collection. For instance, the SAPS should use hand-held consoles or smart phones linked directly to police stations. This would allow SAPS officers to update crimes reported and arrests made in real time. 

South Africa needs accurate reporting to fight crime

Another concern for the DA is the accuracy and reliability of the statistics. Aside from under-reporting or the failure of SAPS officers to actually process reported cases due to performance targets, the statistics are open to manipulation as they are not independently audited.

This problem became clear two years ago when it was discovered that the SAPS had used incorrect population figures to calculate the various crime ratios which led to an understating of increases in various categories. Then, last year, the SAPS announced statistics which were materially incorrect for both Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. 

In order to ensure the citizenry of South Africa accept their validity, the crime statistics must be independently audited. The DA again urges the Minister of Police and the National Police Commissioner to commission such an audit, using an independent auditing firm, lest they release inaccurate statistics.

Focus needed on ensuring successful prosecutions

It has also been noted by detectives that, while they are rewarded for the numbers of arrests and convictions obtained, members of the National Prosecuting Authority are rated on a decrease in prosecutions. Due to the overload, only 29% of cases are concluded. This lowers conviction rates, which in turn have dire consequences for the effective fight against crime. If we are to win the war on crime, conviction rates must be the focus for the future.

Another major issue is the closing of dockets.  If detectives are struggling with 400 dockets apiece, as was the case in the Free State, where the Police Portfolio did oversight last week, national and provincial management teams step in. Questions I asked revealed that thousands of dockets (7000 provincially just last month) were closed, undetected. This means citizens who believe their cases are being investigated are unaware that the file is actually gathering dust. This is crippling our conviction rates and indicates that the SAPS leadership and the ANC in government have lost control of the fight against crime.

We have put questions to the Minister of Police asking for information on what may be one of the biggest scandals the SAPS has ever faced: the possibility that these case closures have happened regularly over the past three years in all nine provinces, on the orders of the NPC, to make the statistics appear better than they are.

Focus needed on what the national government is doing to fight crime

When one examines the crime statistics year on year, it becomes glaringly obvious that South Africa desperately needs specialised units to tackle some of the most serious crime problems in areas. This includes the need for anti-gang, anti-drug, and specialised rural safety units. In places like the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal these interventions would go a long way to fighting violent crime.

The national government’s blatant refusal to establish anti-drug and anti-gang units in the Western Cape in particular, despite this evidence, points to a politically-motivated abdication of responsibility.

SAPS needs leadership to win the war on crime

National government and the SAPS are failing in the fight against crime. But we do not need to accept crime as an inescapable reality in South Africa.

This can be changed if we make the interventions needed, with effective leadership of our SAPS. This cannot happen when our Minister of Police and National Police Commissioner are more concerned with protecting President Zuma from being held accountable on Nkandla; or trying to cover up the massacre of mineworkers at Marikana. 

With the requisite time, effort, resources, and support from the public, the SAPS can begin to make inroads into stemming the tidal-wave of crime in this country. But this can only begin once we face up to the reality of the challenges that we face, and we start looking for solutions.

This is what the DA is committed to achieving, and why we will continue to propose workable solutions – so that every South African can feel safe and live a life they value.

Issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 28 September 2015