Police in crime conspiracy
Investigation into fudging of crime statistics reveal how police downgraded serious offences
Dec 12, 2009 11:09 PM | By Shanaaz Eggington
A probe into the manipulation of crime statistics is gathering momentum as
new details emerge of how police with evidence of serious crimes, such as child
rape, failed to open dockets.
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Police stations in two provinces stand accused of destroying dockets and downgrading the seriousness of reported crimes, in a conspiracy to make it look as if there was less crime in their areas.
This week it emerged that:
lPolice failed to open a docket into the alleged rape of five primary school pupils by one man in a single day, despite medical and other evidence; lThe Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), a police watchdog body probing the crime statistics scandal, now wants to scrutinise over 1000 more dockets in the Western Cape; lWestern Cape community safety MEC Lennit Max called on the ICD to make public the preliminary results of their probe into 103 dockets in the province.
Four police officers, including Pietermaritzburg's Mountain Rise police station commissioner, Harriram Badul, were arrested after a probe into the alleged destruction of dockets. They were arrested on 51 counts of fraud and corruption and the case has been handed to the Hawks.
The Sunday Times this week established that police in Paarl, in the Western Cape, failed to open a docket after being handed doctor's certificates confirming injuries consistent with the rape of five primary school pupils. Neither did they arrest the suspect, pointed
out by the victims - four girls and one boy aged 6 to 12 - earlier this year. Instead, they opened an inquiry, which, unlike a docket, is not counted among crime statistics. The suspect was only arrested in June after a special task team of about 25 members of the
Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) from Cape Town were sent to Paarl to track down and arrest suspects linked to over 100 cases registered as inquiries in the area.
The team swooped after Max asked the ICD to probe claims that crime figures were being manipulated in the province. The team of detectives were handed over 100 dockets - all opened the day before they arrived in Paarl - and told to "immediately arrest all the suspects identified and pointed out" by their victims.
SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN: This 10-year-old alleged rape victim's case was first registered at the Paarl police station as an inquiry and not as a rape docket, despite being handed medical certificates confirming injuries doctor's claim were consistent with rape Picture: SHELLEY CHRISTIANS
Police failed to open a docket into the alleged rape of five
primary school pupils The ICD now wants to scrutinise over
1000 m ore dockets in the Western Cape
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