PNP: WC SAPS fails to solve 62% of serious crime
24 October 2023
The recently-tabled Policing Needs and Priorities (PNP) continues to shed light on the bleak state of policing in the Western Cape. The report reveals that SAPS’ detection rate for serious crime in the Western Cape stands at only 37.78%. Given that the detection rate is defined as the total number of charges referred to court, charges withdrawn before court and charges closed as unfounded were divided by the total number of charges investigated. This essentially means that, of the serious crime dockets opened at the Western Cape’s 151 SAPS stations, 62.22% of them are never solved.
Detection rates were little better in other categories of crime. Detection rates for contact crimes stood at 49.8%, while the rate for property-related crime was reported at a dismal 19.04%.
These figures are perhaps unsurprising given the fact that the number of detectives in the Western Cape has been in decline for years, with only 2 587 detectives left in the Province. This means that, on average, there are less than 20 detectives stationed at each of the Western Cape’s police precincts, some of which serve thousands of the Western Cape’s residents.
The 2023 PNP consistently found that recruitment numbers for detectives remain low, as SAPS offers little incentive for existing officers to become detectives, and does not recruit actively enough for those with the necessary aptitude outside the police force. While the decline in detective numbers has been especially pronounced, it is also a part of a general decline in SAPS numbers in the Western Cape which has resulted in less than 20 000 SAPS employees on duty in the province.