Police, security firms align forces
Thapelo Sakoana
11 May 2007The South African government has begun discussions with independent security companies in a bid to improve collaboration between the country's police and private security industry in combating crime.
Briefing journalists in Pretoria on Thursday, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said that although the police were working with private security firms, there was a need to "upgrade the relationship".
One existing area of cooperation between the SAPS and private security firms is that of tackling cash-in-transit heists. While it is the responsibility of security companies to protect cash-in-transit vehicles, the police also help to secure this money.
The emphasis of the upgraded partnership, Nqakula said, would be on introducing new systems and mechanisms to combat crime more effectively in the country - such as an innovative system of monitoring police responses at crime scenes.
Monitoring police emergency
responses
The government has set aside R600-million to build and equip a new, world-class police emergency response centre in Johannesburg to replace the six existing ones in Gauteng province.
A similar centre will be launched in the Eastern Cape by the end of the year, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the rest of the provinces.
The system digitally tracks the response of each police vehicle and records all communication between the caller, the centre operators and the police officials responding to the call.
Dispatch operators from the centre will be able to direct specific police vehicles to emergency scenes by the shortest possible routes.
"What we are discussing with the private security industry is incorporating that element so that, when there is a cry for help anywhere, we look at the monitor and see which is the closest vehicle, and if it is a private security vehicle, it is then dispatched," Nqkula said.
Lines will
not be blurred
Nqakula dispelled suggestions that the government was seeking to integrate private security companies into the South African Police Service (SAPS) - or that any law change was on the cards to give private security officers special rights to arrest criminals.
Private security officers, the minister said, had the same right "that any South African civilian has to affect a civilian arrest."
He denied that the engagement with the country's private "police force" meant that the state's law enforcement agencies were losing the battle against crime. Partnerships, including community mobilisation, were generally important in crime fighting, he said.
"This means we combine every element that can be used to fight crime in South Africa, which brings us to the most important element of that fight - communities themselves," Nqakula said.
A fact attested to by democratic countries worldwide was that "it does not matter how big and well-resourced your law enforcement agencies are," the minister said.
"If that police service does not work directly with the people, it is not going to be effective, and therefore many countries have adopted a new philosophy of policing, which is community policing."
Source: BuaNews
