The police fraternity has been marred by incidents of inefficiency with complaints ranging from poor service delivery, poor investigation, poor response times, missing dockets, lack of feedback, unprofessional conduct, abuse of power and police inaction amongst others.
Despite the efforts to bolster SAPS capacity, Gauteng has registered an increase on the 17-community reported serious crimes in the first quarter of 2021/22 financial year (FY).
Furthermore, the province accounts for more than 14 police stations out of the top 30 stations with high cases in community reported serious crimes. Although steady improvement has been noted among the 55 priority stations more still needs to be done.
Gauteng Community Safety Northern Corridor Director, Vumile Zwane says the Gauteng Department of Community Safety is empowered by section 206 (3) (a-d) of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Act 2 of 2011 to perform oversight function over the South African Police Service in the Province.
“The department is also mandated to monitor police conduct and oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of their service, including receiving reports on the police service’s said Zwane.
Zwane says the department is duty-bound to investigate and recommend remedial actions on any complaint received from members of the public regarding poor police service, fraud and corruption at any of the 143 police stations in the province.
“During the 2019/2020 financial year, the department has received and investigated 288 complaints. Of the 288 complaints received 107 (37%) related to poor service delivery, 81 (28%) to poor investigation, 67 (23%) to poor communication, 26 (9%) to unprofessional conduct and 7 (3%) to miscellaneous complaints.”
The department also monitors the Integrated O Kae Molao, Festive Season and Easter operations to measure impact and successes.
Zwane said “The department will continue to improve the quality of policing in line with the oversight model. The model is premised on the following elements, namely extending oversight visits to all police stations on a regular basis.”
She says currently police stations are visited every month, Introducing station visits to Metropolitan sites and offices, Reintroduction of the Gauteng Information on Police Performance System to 40 high crime stations (stations that would eventually be part of Deliverology) and lastly positioning Community Police Forums as agents of oversight to enhance scale and reach in police stations.
“As part of efforts to restore public trust in the police service and eliminate corruption, police conduct will remain under watch and we will continue to monitor the implementation of Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) recommendations.”
The Gauteng Department of Community Safety has urged members of the public to make use of its police complaints management system and report any complaints they may have regarding policing at the 143 police stations in an effort to improve service delivery within the ranks of law enforcement agencies in the province.
