Corruption a ‘hobby’ in metro police
October 7 2010 at 06:59am
By Graeme Hosken and Patrick Hlahla, IOL
Corruption has become a “hobby” within the Tshwane Metro Police Department). This was revealed in a report by the Institute of Security Studies three years ago.
The report, “City Blues: Corruption and Corruption Management in South Africa’s Metropolitan Police Departments”, dates back to 2007, but nothing, sources in the department said, has changed in the past three years. Corruption remains a problem within the organisation, they said.
The Pretoria News and Eyewitness News in an investigation into alleged corruption within the city council revealed that more than 25 percent of metro police officials – including office-bound staff and those out on operations – were under investigation.
A total of 350 dockets have been opened by the Internal Investigations Unit against the department’s over 1 200 police members.
The report says the department is South Africa’s second largest metro police department with 1 914 employees, 1 220 of whom are police members.
The revelations come as the Independent Complaints Directorate is investigating the operations of an alleged organised crime syndicate within the department’s ranks.
The apparent criminal network, which uses State resources, sees members from the department’s Region 6 using strong arm tactics such as assaults, kidnappings and torture, to extort money from victims who include motorists, those using the services of prostitutes, and hawkers.
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Posted by Andrea Muhrrteyn at 10/07/2010 10:00:00 AM
