Police commissioner rejects
SAIRR report on SAPS criminality
RiahPhiyega
has rejected a South African Institute for Race Relations report on police
involvement in serious and violent crimes as "malicious".
The South
African Police Service (SAPS) has rejected a report on police criminality,
saying it was compiled and funded with “malicious intent”.
National
police commissioner RiahPhiyega objected to her photograph being used in the
report, which linked her leadership to high levels of criminality in the
police, according to a sample studied.
The South
African Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR) did the research for the report,
titled Broken Blue Line, and Afriforum, which regularly campaigns for what it
calls “minority rights”, funded it.
The SAIRR
describes itself as a “classically liberal think-tank” that aims to contribute
towards policy solutions to problems the country is facing.
The
report’s methodology involved scanning media reports to identify incidents of
police involvement in serious or violent crime. The SAIRR studied 100 such
reports, looking for “patterns of behaviour”.
Easily identified
It was “easy” to identify 100 incidences and this process took less than a week, the SAIRR said.
It was “easy” to identify 100 incidences and this process took less than a week, the SAIRR said.
Of these
100 reported incidences, the SAIRR said 32 related to murder and attempted
murder, 22 related to armed robbery, 26 to rape and 20 to other crimes.
But
police spokesperson, Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale, said the SAPS did not
support the report.
The
police took issue with the fact that the report did not study case dockets,
SAPS databases and court reports or judgments as source material, and that it
had not been given to the police’s management before being released to the
media, he said.
Makgale
said Phiyega “objected” to her photograph being used in the report despite her
request that it be removed.
Phiyega
said the report was released and funded “with malicious intent”.
Problematic leadership
Afriforum said Phiyega was one of the main reasons behind the police service’s problems.
Afriforum said Phiyega was one of the main reasons behind the police service’s problems.
The SAIRR
said it had asked the SAPS for data on action taken against police officers
accused of serious and violent crimes in November 2014, but that the SAPS had
not responded.
A draft
version of the report then “made its way into the media”, the SAIRR said, at
which point Phiyega said she should have been contacted for comment.
The SAIRR
said that in January this year, it indicated to Phiyega’s office that it would
be willing to show the commissioner a draft of the report and again asked for
data on action taken against police officers accused of crimes.
The
police declined their request this time round, said the SAIRR.
Lower levels of confidence
The SAIRR studied data from SAPS watchdog ;the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
The SAIRR studied data from SAPS watchdog ;the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
The
report found that lower levels of confidence in the police service had resulted
in middle-class communities turning to the private sector for security, while
poorer communities resorted to vigilante justice.
The SAIRR
said there had been “no significant decline” in police criminality since its
previous report, released in 2011.
Police
had been using their service weapons to commit crimes and the incidences were
not isolated, but appeared to form patterns.
The
report made a number of recommendations, including strengthening the chain of
command within the SAPS, appointing university-educated officers to lead
specialised units and police stations, and establishing a new investigating
agency in the department of justice that is dedicated to probing police
criminality.
The SAIRR
said Ipid needed strengthening and that police appointments needed to be “made
on merit and not in terms of race or political loyalty”.
