SAPS gun records in
shambles
August 6 2012 at 01:55pm
By Yogas Nair
By Yogas Nair
INDEPENDENT
NEWSPAPERS
Stock
picture: Antoine de Ras
KwaZulu-Natal -
Hundreds of guns from police station exhibit rooms across KwaZulu-Natal are
missing or unaccounted for because of poor record keeping, an audit has found.
The preliminary
findings of the check have prompted provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General
Mmamonnye Ngobeni to put a task team in place to monitor the 184 stations in
KZN to ensure their gun files are in order.
Sources claim
that at some stations more than 100 guns are reported missing or unaccounted
for from the exhibit rooms, which are referred to as SAP 13.
Guns that are
seized from unlicensed owners, used to commit crimes and those stolen and
recovered, are kept in the SAP 13.
At Berea police
station, it is understood that more than 80 firearms cannot be accounted for; about
100 are believed to be missing from Greenwood Park and Umbumbulu; and 50 from
uMlazi.
KZN police
spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said processes were under way to follow the paper
trail of these guns.
Rudolph Zinn, a
lecturer at the the School of Criminal Justice and Police Practice at Unisa,
said whether the guns were missing or unaccounted for, was of serious concern.
“The police
standing orders are very clear on the SAP 13. All guns must be kept in a gun
safe,” Zinn said.
“The SAP 13 is
the direct responsibility of the station commander. He or she must have a
proper record of all items in the exhibit room. A paper trail is vital,
especially for exhibits that are used in court.
“If an exhibit
is presented as evidence in court, the investigating officer has to show who
received it, when it went for ballistics, when it was returned to the station,
and so on. If the paper trail is not in order, the exhibit cannot be admissible
as evidence.”
Zinn said if a
single gun had been used to commit multiple serious and violent crimes, and
there was no proper record keeping, it could spell disaster for the case.
He said the
standing orders also prescribed that station commanders conduct an inspection
of the SAP 13 Register, at least once a month.
“It is clear
someone has not been doing their job.
“If the record
registers were in order, the audit would have come up clean,” Zinn said.
Naicker said the provincial police inspectorate was regularly tasked with
carrying out inspections at stations, including the SAP 13.
He said each
station was duty-bound to safeguard all guns handed in as exhibits.
“Files are kept
of all firearms in police custody. When an inspection is carried out, and a
firearm is not physically at the station, the inspectorate department will
inspect its file,” he said.
“If proper
record keeping is in place, the file will indicate if the firearm was sent to
ballistics/forensics, destroyed by the SAPS or handed back to the lawful owner.
“In many cases,
however, the relevant supporting documents are not filed in the guns file,
therefore inspecting officers cannot confirm how the gun was disposed of,”
Naicker said.
He said as a
formality a docket was opened for the loss of these guns and the station was
given time to finalise the administration of files.
Clarity on
whether guns were actually missing could only be determined once the
administration process was finalised.
But, once an
audit was completed and clarity still could not be obtained to indicate how a
gun was disposed of, then the member who was responsible for the safeguarding
of that gun would be charged – criminally and departmentally, said Naicker.
He said while
the findings of the audit were being viewed in a very serious light, they had
no doubt that poor administrative processes were to blame for the missing guns.
“We are
convinced that these firearms were properly disposed off,” he said.
“We are also
following the paper trail, together with the computerised firearm system. This
will also give us an indication as to how these firearms were disposed off.”
Ngobeni, said
station commanders were ultimately responsible.
“While we are
convinced that ultimately these stations will be able to account for the
disposal of these firearms, heads must roll for the poor record keeping,” she
said.
“The buck stops
at the station commander’s desk.”
Ngobeni said
that in some instances, disciplinary steps had already been taken against
certain individuals for dereliction of duties.
“We will ensure
that with regular auditing the administration processes with regards to these
firearms will never be neglected in future.” - Daily News
