Rise in cop murders needs urgent intervention and political will

24 August 2015

Note to editors: these are the remarks that were made today by the DA’s Deputy Shadow Minister of Police, Zakhele Mbhele MP at Hillbrow Police Station in Johannesburg. He was joined by DA Shadow Minister of Police, Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, and DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Safety & Security, Kate Lorimer MPL. 

Today, the DA is at the Hillbrow Police Station in Johannesburg to pay its respects to the fallen members of our police service who have been the victims of brutal criminal activity.

We send our most sincere condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who have fallen in the line of duty, including to those who knew the police officers who were killed this past weekend. Their bravery and sacrifice is greatly appreciated and should not go unnoticed.

Friends, it left me both shocked and saddened when I found out on Saturday morning that two more police officers had been murdered within hours of each other here in Gauteng. One of these police officers was killed not far from this very police station.

This brings the number of police officers killed this year to 57. This cannot be accepted any longer. When more than 4 police officers are killed on average a month in a year, we need to, together as a country say that this cannot be allowed to continue any longer. This needs to stop.

Crime affects all of us. It takes away the people we love the most. It leaves us scared, and angry. It brings out the worst in our society. It does this in communities around the country; and it equally affects those brave police serviceman who work tirelessly - in the most difficult of circumstances – to fight it. 

If we are to succeed in winning the battle against crime, we will need a police service that works. And to make this happen, we need a police service that takes every step to ensure all its staff are properly trained, and resourced, so that they can do their job to the best of their ability. Because when our police cannot fight crime, all of us suffer; and criminals win.

The DA’s vision for South Africa is one where we can live together, safely, in a secure environment. We are determined to make this happen.

This will require an urgent intervention – not only to bring down crime levels across the country once and for all – but also in ensuring that the scourge of cop murders is brought to an end. 

To this end, the DA will be tabling a plan to address this growing concern at Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police scheduled for this coming Friday, 28 August 2015 earmarked to deal with this exact issue that is fast rising to epidemic levels.

This plan will centre on dealing with the serious under-resourcing and training challenges which face the SAPS, and which leaves our service men and women vulnerable to attack.

According to the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) plans for promoting police safety were not being implemented. The ISS said that “required training was non-existent or inadequate, there were not enough bullet-proof vests and probably most importantly, there was poor managerial supervision and accountability at station and unit level. As a result police officials did not follow proper procedures when responding to complaints, searching suspects or making arrests, did not use their equipment effectively and were not “safety conscious.” This made them vulnerable to attack during which they could be injured or killed.

Additionally, the Richard Mdluli Crime Intelligence era has wreaked havoc on our police services’ ability to obtain accurate intelligence into criminal activity which means that police officers are sent into dangerous situations that are made lethal because the necessary risk assessment and intelligence is often inaccurate or non-existent. This allows criminals to out-maneuver our police. We need a non-political, crime intelligence focused on fight crime, not political battles.

The SAPS leadership need to be honest with themselves. This is not a new problem. The failure to bring down the murders of police service is by and large due to a lack of political and operational will.

The former Minister Police, Nathi Mthethwa, announced a ten point plan to address this problem in 2011 and to date little to nothing has been done in this regard. The DA will be asking that the new Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, provides an update on the progress being made in this regard. 

We will also request that the SAPS strategy to combat police killings be expedited and brought before the committee as soon as possible. 

This should include ensuring the quality of the existing service, which must continuously be monitored and maintained by requiring existing members to participate in refresher courses on a rotation basis.

Additionally, the DA proposes that our members are trained for every eventuality in terms of international best-practice. This should include, but not be limited to:

Research on modus operandi used to kill officers;

The need for advanced, safe, firearm training;

Weapon retention;

Defending of self when unarmed;

Specific preparedness for entering calls in regards to domestic violence; armed encounters; and ambush;

The need for pre-patrol vehicle checks;

Safety reminders when transporting detainees;

Training in the code of conduct officers must adhere to when on duty;

Predicting the next move; 

The understanding of the concept of ‘reasonableness’ in use-of-force cases;

How to subdue a non-compliant subject using non-lethal force;

Officer safety during a vehicle traffic stop;

Proper crowd control strategies and tactics;

Tactics for safer, faster transport of critically injured persons;

Resources to prevent police suicide; mandatory psychological debriefing after every shooting or death discovery;

The mandatory wearing of bullet-proof vests with a mounted camera attached; and

Prevention of officer on officer deaths.

Moreover, the DA’s policy on Safety calls for the enhancement of station management skills; learning from international experience; ensuring all officers possess the right basic skills and promoting opportunities for specialised training. Opportunities will be created for police officers to specialise in specific crime areas – e.g. sexual offences, crimes involving small children or drug-related crimes and cop deaths. Specialised training as well as the development and implementation of innovative and localised crime-fighting strategies, tailored to the specific needs of hot spot communities, is critical to this fight and is necessary, as we have seen in Hillbrow this weekend.

Police leadership are most likely to claim that they do not have the money to engage these issues meaningfully which we submit is not true. With a contingent liability projection at a staggering R20.5 billion for police misconduct it would be easy enough to ring-fence a large portion of that money to address the resourcing issues and training deficits.

At R72.5 billion a year, SAPS has the money to make significant in-roads in addressing this issue. What is now needed is the political will to solve the problem.

We owe it to the hard-working police officers, who risk their lives so that we can be safe, to make sure that they are well-resourced, and properly trained. No police officer should be left vulnerable to attack because of a failure of management to take these issues seriously.

It is time that the Police Minister, Nathi Nhleko, and the new Police Commissioner take meaningful steps to ensure the safety of our police officers who, every day, deal with life-threatening situations to protect the South African people.

This is the best tribute we can pay to those brave men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Statement issued by Zakhele Mbhele MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Police, August 24 2015