Sidelining community undermines fight against crime
Having worked with the SAPS for the last five years on the Woodstock Community Police Forum (CPF) and at sector level together with numerous neighbourhood watches, I have high respect for the majority of our working, professional policemen and women. However, things seem to be falling apart, more than ever, at higher levels of SAPS management.
Three years ago the Observatory sector manager was a superintendent and he used to patrol with residents on foot.
Now sector managers are constables and it is years since I have seen an SAPS officer patrolling on foot.
The Woodstock CPF used to receive detailed monthly crime statistics so that they could work with the SAPS. Now SAPS top management will not allow the disclosure of any current crime statistics. As a result, at CPF level, the SAPS says only that a crime category has gone up or down and they give absolutely no figures.
I believe it is near impossible to run an undertaking with a partner who will not reveal crucial figures. There is no sense of partnership and trust.
We are told that in March this year the Woodstock Community Police Forum was annulled because the October election of the new CPF committee had been declared unconstitutional. This was apparently due to the correct outside officials being found not to have been represented at the election meeting.
This annulment can in fact only be done by the provincial commissioner, after engaging in the dispute-resolution mechanisms provided for in the constitution.
It is not known how much policing in Woodstock has deteriorated now that the community is no longer involved. No doubt, if it has been legally annulled, new volunteers will be found to start up the Woodstock CPF afresh. In the meantime the community suffers. I wonder how many other CPFS could be annulled if the details of their elections were investigated.
Other CPFS and neighbourhood watches confirm a serious falling off of police standards. To quote a very senior SAPS retired officer: “I thought I would never be able to say it but the fact of the matter is that policing is falling apart everywhere.”
The promotion system within SAPS appears to be a mystery to its members and constables are suddenly promoted to Colonel. Clearly there is serious political meddling and this must be disastrous for the morale of professional police.
It is evident that the “moneyed suburbs” increasingly provide their own security – through neighbourhood watches, CIDS and through the large sums of money they collectively pay to private security firms. This leads to the question: to what extent can the police take the credit if their stats show that crime levels are dropping?
Maybe the SAPS should acknowledge that we are all in this together and provide current crime stats. Alternatively, maybe the unofficial crime stats collected in many districts by residents should be published.
It is difficult to argue with the SAPS redeployment of resources from the leafy suburbs to the areas where crime is concentrated. The reappearance of necklacing makes the point.
The bottom line is that we are and always will be fighting an uphill battle for resources because the SAPS must always take into account the needs of all districts. Areas such as the Cape Flats are likely to, more and more, receive the bulk of resources.
Undoubtedly this must be leading to enormous and mounting pressure on city and general policing.
Employers should allow and encourage their staff to spend (say) two days of their working month as reservists in either the SAPS or the city law enforcement force.
It is my belief that large and increasing quantities of ideas, resources and money are soon going to be needed from the private sector to bolster security and help the SAPS. DAVID RAPHAEL EX- MEMBER OF WOODSTOCK COMMUNITY POLICE FORUM