South Africa beefs up police force
3 July 2009
South African Police Service (SAPS) personnel will increase from 183 000 to 205 000 over the next three years, with a focus on visible policing, detectives and crime intelligence, Police Minister Nathi Mthetwa told Parliament in Cape Town this week.
"This year alone, the number of detectives will increase by more than 19%," Mthetwa said, tabling his department's budget vote in Parliament. "More than 12 928 persons are undergoing detective related training this year, and this programme is already under way."
Improved crime intelligence
Mthetwa said the department would increase police intelligence personnel as well as associated operational expenditure in order to improve the force's capacity to provide technical support for investigations and crime prevention operations.
"In any policing system, intelligence should act as a nerve centre ... The need to revitalise the intelligence component of SAPS as well as the integration of intelligence into all aspects of policing is a high priority," he said.
He added that a permanent divisional commissioner in the SAPS's Crime Intelligence Division would be appointed this month, bringing about stability in a division which had over 1 000 vacant posts.
"This situation cannot be allowed to continue. Therefore, we shall work to ensure that these posts are filled as a matter of urgency."
Tackling priority crime
The new Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) will become fully functional next week, with Anwar Dramat heading the unit. Fifty-one members of the former Directorate of Special Operations (commonly known as the Scorpions) have already joined the new unit. A further 227 will join the unit on 6 July.
"Altogether, 1 700 members have undergone security clearance processes and are ready to ensure that the unit hits the ground running," Mthetwa said. "The unit will have presence in all nine provinces."
Reviewing specialised units
The government will review its decision on the closure of specialised units, such as the Child Protection Unit and Sexual Offenses Unit, Mthetwa said. These special units were devolved to local police stations in 2006, with the government saying then that increased oversight of their work strengthened their provision of services to communities.
He said the closure of these units has lead to significant debate regarding the need for certain types of crimes to be addressed by people with specialised knowledge and experience.
"We need to consider the reintroduction of some these specialised units such as the child protection unit and sexual offenses unit," Mthetwa said. "Some of this knowledge and experience can only be acquired over time."
And as such, the government would consider the reintroduction of some of these units, in a bid to improve efforts to deal with crimes perpetrated against women and children.
Community policing forums
He said it was important to deepen partnerships with communities as they could provide capacity which was not always available at police stations: "In using the resources, skills and capacity of our partners, we can find ways of maximising our strength and at the same time minimising our weaknesses."
The ministry is also establishing a dedicated unit to focus on deepening interaction with communities, civil society, business, faith-based organisations and the three spheres of government.
Mthethwa thanked those community members who gave up their personal time to patrol streets and form Community Policing Forums (CPFs), pointing out that a total of 95% of all the police stations in South Africa had established such forums.
Permanent reservists
In March this year, a summit held to address challenges faced by police reservists agreed that a task team should be appointed to consider the issue of permanent employment of reservists, and the first permanent intake of reservists in June/July will involve 1 100 reservists.
Mthetwa said these reservists would have to undergo proper training before they are deployed, and that they would be required to meet standard selection criteria.
He said the time for inefficiencies and lethargy in the fight against crime was over. "Everything we do must and will be performance-driven. The war against crime must be taken to a new level."
Source: BuaNews
