Databases boost for police forensics
Nthambeleni Gabara
12 December 2008
The Department of Justice has put forward amendments to the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Bill that will give police investigators access to the extensive databases of other state departments, and expand their power to take and retain fingerprints and other biometric material.
Due to current legal and technological constraints, Justice Minister Enver Surty said investigators presently only had access to fingerprints stored on the South African Police Service (SAPS) Afis system, despite there being other departments that also have fingerprint databases.
Speaking in Pretoria this week, he said that a team reviewing the country's criminal justice system had identified an urgent need to improve the collection, storage and use of fingerprinting and DNA evidence.
Perpetrators remain undetected
He explained that police investigators did not have access to the Department of Home Affairs' Hanis system, which contains the fingerprints of about 31-million citizens and some two-million foreign nationals.
They also did not have access to the Department of Transport's E-Natis system, which has information and fingerprints of some six-million people with driving licences.
As a result, he said, in many cases perpetrators remained undetected.
Legislation addresses fingerprinting
The department believes the amendment, which is published on its website, will help address South African legislation regarding fingerprinting, and improve investigations. "The current Criminal Procedure Act does not make the taking of fingerprints compulsory, even in instances where a person has been convicted of an offence," Surty said.
"It also requires the destruction of fingerprints, palm-prints, footprints, photographs and the record of steps taken to obtain such evidence if a person is found not-guilty, or no prosecution was instituted against a person from whom such evidence was collected."
This, he said, meant that fingerprints lifted at a crime scene would most likely only be checked against a limited number of fingerprints from convicted offenders, which have been included in the police database.
DNA evidence
Although the taking of blood samples in criminal cases and the ascertainment of other bodily features is broadly regulated under the present Act, no mention is made of the collection of DNA evidence.
Therefore, said Deputy Justice Minister Johnny de Lange, the amendments would also see the establishment, administration and use of a DNA database as a criminal intelligence tool.
"The Bill aims to achieve these objectives while providing for strict safeguards and penalties to ensure that forensic materials are collected, stored, and used only for purposes related to the prevention or detection of crime, the investigation of an offence, or conduct of a prosecution," he said.
De Lange added that he believed the successful implementation of such a system would result in increased guilty pleas and plea bargains, as suspects would be confronted with real evidence.
Source: BuaNews
