Sunday, January 5, 2020

Crimes of the South African Police Service

South Africa police 'lose 3,000 guns a year'

 

Almost 3,000 South African police firearms were lost or stolen in just nine months, it emerged today – about three for every police station in the country, which has some of the highest crime rates in the world.

5:10PM GMT 27 Jan 2010

The worrying statistic comes less than six months before the football World Cup kicks off in the country.

Dianne Kohler Barnard, the opposition Democratic Alliance shadow police minister, said that the state weapons manufacturer Armscor had recently ordered 4,000 replacement 9mm handguns made by the Italian manufacturer Beretta.

A parliamentary committee heard that 2,944 police weapons were lost or stolen between January and September last year – more than in the whole of 2008, which was itself an increase on 2007, she said.

The recovery rate for weapons stolen from or lost by police was "extremely low", Ms Kohler Barnard added, in contrast to thefts from civilians, where it was 100 per cent.

The figures suggest that, wittingly or unwittingly, South African police could be a major supplier of weapons to the country's criminal underworld.

"I can't discount that," said Ms Kohler-Barnard, adding that it was impossible to say how many of the guns declared lost had instead been sold by corrupt officers. "I don't know whether they are selling them or leaving them on the counter at Wimpy's when they go to have a hamburger."

Investigations into lost firearms were sometimes launched, she said, but "nothing ever comes of them, nothing ever happens and no one is punished".

She called for action to ensure that fewer police guns "end up in the hands in criminals.

"The thought that a SAPS [South African Police Service] firearm might be used to shoot and kill a SAPS member is unconscionable," she said.

The SAPS spokesman responsible for firearms issues was in a meeting this afternoon and not available for comment.

Almost 50 people are murdered every day in South Africa, one of the highest rates in the world for a country not at war.

There are concerns over the safety of thousands of football fans attending this summer's event.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/7085320/South-Africa-police-lose-3000-guns-a-year.html