SA to beef up police service
24 May 2007
The South African Police Service (SAPS) is to spend millions of rands over the next three years on procuring surveillance aircraft, helicopters and mobile command centres.
Delivering his department's budget to the National Assembly in Cape Town this week, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said they would spend R13.5-million on three new high-technology mobile command vehicles and R20.2-million on four new helicopters in the current financial year.
The SAPS will procure another seven helicopters at a cost of R36-million and five more mobile command vehicles at a cost of R22.5-million in the 2008/09.
Nqakula added that a further two mobile command vehicles would be bought at a cost of R9-million in the run-up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
He told members of Parliament that the department was also buying three surveillance aircraft at a cost of R90-million as well as 200 mobile closed-circuit television cameras.
Visible policing
According to Nqakula, the lion's share of the department's budget for visible policing - R13.7-billion of R15.5-billion - will be used for police patrols, with border security and "specialised interventions" receiving the balance.
With the numbers of police officers in South Africa increasing sharply, expenditure on personnel continues to account for the biggest portion of the budget - R25.2-billion out of this year's overall allocation of R35.9-billion.
Nqakula said this was an increase of almost R3.5-billion on last year's budget allocation, and that in three years' time the overall budget would increase to R43.6-billion.
"The core function of the police is to stop crime from happening," the minister said. "It is a proactive function where visible policing is key. The wage bill recognises that the personnel numbers shall have reached 173 120 by the end of the financial year."
Boosting
numbers
The number of policemen and women patrolling South Africa's cities and towns is set to increase sharply over the next three years.
Personnel numbers in the service had already risen to 163 060 in the past financial year, Nqakula said, up from 156 060 in 2005/06, and would reach 193 240 by 2009/10.
There have also been significant increases in expenditure on resources in the policing environment, such as buildings, machinery and equipment.
Eleven police stations were built in the past financial year, four more will be built this year and an additional three will be built in 2008/00, while the technological capacity of the police is also being considerably strengthened.
Source: BuaNews
