Bayview police station in trouble
June 9 2015 at 02:33pm
By LEE RONDGANGER
By LEE RONDGANGER
INDEPENDENT
MEDIA
File photo: Skyler Reid
Durban - A picture of a police station where some managers are
incompetent, service weapons are not returned, and evidence is not collected or
collated, has been painted by an internal report on Chatsworths’s Bayview
police station.
The 99-page document, which police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said
was “highly confidential” and illegally leaked to the Daily News, shows a
police station in disarray in one of South Africa’s highly active crime areas.
The Bayview report was based on an audit in February by
the SAPS Inspectorate on behalf of the provincial commissioner to assess
problems at the station and how they could be rectified.
The management that was at the police station at the time of the audit
is believed to still be in place although police did not answer this question
when it was put to them in writing.
Police threatened to arrest the Daily News journalist for being in
possession of the report.
One expert said the state of Bayview reflected the shortcomings at many
of the country’s police stations. Institute for Security Studies crime and
justice programme head, Gareth Newham, said it was “symptomatic of fundamental
structural problems facing the 1 140 police stations” across the country.
“These problems have been ongoing for years now. The Western Cape
government instituted the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry into four police
stations recently which found the same problems.”
Newham said there were “pockets of excellence” that were well run. The
silver lining was that the police inspectorate was doing its job and uncovering
problems.
“The Inspectorate was weakened under former police commissioner, Jackie
Selebi, and in recent years efforts had been made to strengthen it and increase
capacity.”
He said many police stations went for years without being inspected. The
big thing going forward now was to ensure that there was accountability.
Often the Inspectorate went to these police stations, made the findings,
and no remedial action was taken by either provincial or national management.
The commanders at these stations must be held accountable.
Outside officers inspecting the Bayview police station over four days in
February found that the station was failing policing procedures.
Among the audit’s findings were:
* Very little was done with investigation and collecting evidence at the
crime scene.
* Police van crews were not wearing bulletproof vests.
* Dockets were written up that complainants were interviewed and crime
scenes were visited but little was done with a view to gathering evidence.
* The station’s performance had dropped over the past year.
* Commanders were not inspecting the dockets before they were captured
on the system.
* Firearms were booked out without magazines and ammunition, while some
officers did not return firearms.
* A monthly monitoring tool was not in place to assist station
management in measuring the station’s performance.
* The head of one unit there “very seldom” conducted inspections and did
not give proper guidance or feedback to personnel.
Chatsworth councillor and DA eThekwini chief whip, Sharon Hoosen, said
the report was no surprise.
“As far as I’m concerned the Bayview management must be removed because,
the community will no longer have confidence in this station. Urgent interventions
must be made by SAPS senior management.”
Hoosen also wanted to know why the audit report was not given to the
Community Police Forum (CPF).
“I suspect there are many such reports from other police stations that
are kept a secret. CPFs have a right to access these audit reports for them to
conduct proper oversight in their stations,” she said.
“Everyday innocent, peace-loving citizens in Chatsworth are falling
victims to criminal elements and now they are falling victims to the police.
This lack of management and sheer disregard for the role of policing in our
community is exactly the reason why we are unable to curb the high levels of
crime. The very people who are paid to protect us are not doing their jobs.
They are getting away with it and the communities are suffering,” she said.
The report found that the station did not have an operational Detective
Crime Service Centre and that no vehicle had been allocated to the centre.
It said there was no commander for the centre and no duties of the crime
centre were being carried out. Also, very little guidance was given to members
when a docket was received.
“Very little is done with investigation and collecting evidence by the
members at the crime scene,” the report said.
The report said that while investigators and the station commander had
laptops, the devices were not used because they had no 3G cards - so they were
just kept in a safe “instead of enhancing service delivery”.
“Urgent intervention is required in this regard,” the report said.
The station’s performance had dropped over the past year as there were
more than 70 more errors in the period under audit compared with previous
years.
In addition the report revealed that the station’s Crime Intelligence
and Visible Policing were badly under-performing. In one department,
inspections were seldom conducted, and no guidance or feedback was given to
personnel. The commander was unaware of the extent of the post’s duties.
The audit found it was “quite clear” that inspections with guidance from
the officers and station commander were “lacking”.
“In some cases inspections were done without follow-up on the errors
identified. Basic directives in terms of standing orders and national
instructions are not complied with. Operational statistics are being
recorded... however proof of work performed could not be verified.
“Brought forward dockets are not managed as prescribed and are being
closed within two days of reopening,” the report said.
Response from police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker
“...The document that you are in possession of is privileged and
confidential.
“The inspection was conducted by the Provincial Inspectorate on the
request of the Cluster Commander due to a change in management at the station.
For obvious reasons such document cannot be in the public domain as it poses a
security threat to the SAPS members at the station.
“This is one of the internal measures that SAPS has implemented to
evaluate service at the station and is only for internal role-players to take
remedial action and implement measures to respond to threats identified.
“Unfortunately a criminal case has been registered in terms of the
Police Act and investigators will require a statement from you (our reporter).
We take this matter very seriously as it is a threat to the SAPS if such
privileged documents are in the hands of the public.”
Daily News
