Police Minister must improve Detective Services

The Public Service Commission (PSC) report tabled in Parliament has revealed that around 20% of detectives have not completed the most basic of detective training. This despite the fact that year after year the crime statistics reflect arrests, then show that criminals get off because of poorly presented evidence and cases.

In late 2010, the PSC conducted an inspection of various police stations in all nine provinces and has just released the findings. The consolidated report of these inspections has shown that the detective services of the SAPS is struggling.

Firstly, it was found that around 20% of detectives haven't even been exposed to the Basic Detective Learning Programme. This means that 4845 of 25000 detectives have not been trained in the correct process of handling an investigation. One can only presume that these are the ‘detectives' who inadvertently destroy crime scenes.

Furthermore, those who have completed the course, have either not continued their training or have not attended regular training courses. 

Training is essential to ensure that cases are handled and managed properly. If the detectives fail to handle a case by the book, then the chance of it going to court, let alone succeeding in court, is highly unlikely. Hence the laughable conviction rates.

Secondly, resource allocation was problematic. Around 70% of police stations did not have sufficient detectives to handle the case load. Essential resources such as computers and vehicles were also lacking. The PSC found that in some cases, the Resource Allocation Guide (RAG) recommended additional resources even though the police station seemed to have sufficient resources.

What is most concerning is that the statistics provided by the National Head Office did not match the information found by the PSC. Why is it that the Head Office cannot keep their numbers straight - or who is it that they are trying to protect?

In the 2010/2011 financial year, only 30.84% of dockets were ready to go to court. The lack of sufficient training and resources could go a long way to explaining this figure. For the past five years the DA has been calling for a substantial increase to the numbers of detectives, and had the Minister listened, the SAPS might today have a record we considered to be a success, rather than a dismal failure.

We have to ask: does the Minister know what is going on in his department? Is he at all focussed on the Ministry, or is he too busy focussing on his career?

Detectives aren't being trained, resources aren't being allocated, statistics aren't being monitored - this can only be described as a mess.

This lack of well-trained and well-resourced detectives means that crimes are not investigated properly, prosecutions cannot be ensured and criminals aren't being taken off the streets.

I will be submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister of Police to determine the following:

·         The number of detectives currently in the SAPS - and how many of them are fully trained.

·         The number of detectives who have attended training courses over the past three years.

·         The number of detectives who passed those courses.

·         The amount spent on training for detective services over the last three years.

·         The process used to determine resource allocation.

It is about time the Minister started leading his department from the front. He must take action on the recommendations made by the PSC. He owes it to ordinary South Africans to do the job he's being paid a King's ransom for.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, August 2 2012

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