Surprise Surprise!
SAPS still no arrests for double execution-murders of Middelburg Mp residents Ferdie Verster and Peter Saffy
16:25 Nov 22 2012 Middelburg, Mpumalanga
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Surprise Surprise!
SAPS still no arrests for double execution-murders of Middelburg Mp residents Ferdie Verster and Peter Saffy
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Nine black SAPS officers on trial for murder of Matiti-gang member Boy Shakwana in holding cell
07:21 Nov 21 2012 Nelspruit SAPS station
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Afrikaner SAPS ltcol Johan Venter, capt Hein Theron sue police unionist for racist slander in letter
13:44 Sep 20 2012 Bloemfontein
Crimes of the South African Police Service
MPs condemn sloppy detective work
DENISE WILLIAMS | 06 September, 2012 00:14
Dianne Kohler Barnard File Photo
The incompetence of detectives and shoddy criminal investigations have prompted parliament's police oversight committee to request the intervention of parliament to correct the situation.
The request has been spurred by the high number of criminals, including suspected murderers and armed robbers, being set free.
The police portfolio committee said yesterday that it could no longer wait for the police themselves to deal with the situation.
There is a shortage of about 5000 detectives, leading to each detective having to handle a caseload of about 100 dockets.
Only about 30% of police stations have officers trained in detective work.
Acting portfolio committee chairman and ANC MP Annelize van Wyk said the intervention of the legislature could be sought to ensure the adequate training and reasoned promotion of police detectives.
"We can say legislatively [to parliament]: 'This is how we say promotions should happen: first qualify and only then can you be considered; you don't get promoted and then you start the training'," said Van Wyk.
During a parliamentary discussion of detective services, senior police managers said that lack of training, a shortage of instructors and appropriate technology, and funding constraints were hampering police investigations.
Incompetent detectives, they said, were dealing with sensitive investigations and gathering evidence at crime scenes.
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard referred to the quality of much detective work as "depressing".
"You have to look, for example, at the TV coverage of the [aftermath of the] killings at Marikana. We saw police picking up weapons of various descriptions with their bare hands and dumping them in piles. So basically what I saw . was the rape of the crime scene."
Such behaviour, she said, gave forensic laboratories the "almost impossible task" of having to sift through contaminated evidence.
"It seems a normal occurrence [that] the very first people at crime scenes destroy the crime scene," Kohler Barnard said.
Major-General Charles Johnson, of the police detective services division, said that though his unit had more than 23000 detectives in its employ, about 4900 had not been trained in police detective work.
The chief director of court services in the Department of Justice, Pieter du Rand, said poor police detective work was among the reasons for low conviction rates. The police often gave him weak cases to present to the courts.
Thousands of top investigators in the police were not trained to handle basic detective work and the gathering of evidence.
"People come from police service backgrounds; they are not properly trained in how to deal with crime scene investigation, in how to ensure that there is proper evidence handling and that [the evidence can] go through a court so that justice is done," said Du Rand.
Yesterday, Western Cape MEC for community safety Dan Plato condemned the "shocking" 12.7% murder conviction rate between 2007 and 2012 in areas of the Cape Flats crawling with gangsters and riddled with crime.
Of the 1469 murder cases referred for prosecution by five police stations, 921 were finalised, with 730 acquittals.
"Clearly there is a lack of quality evidence being collected by the police to secure convictions," said Plato.
The chairman of the Western Cape legislature's community safety committee, Mark Wiley, said the detective division had become "dysfunctional".
"It is short on numbers and resources and there are completely unqualified people doing the job.
"This is a national crisis. If you cannot resolve crime you've given over to crime as being a reality," he said.
Wiley said billions were being lost to organised-crime syndicates.
"We're talking about billions and billions of rands that are going undetected because we do not have the capacity [to detect the crimes]. It is undermining the economy; it is economic sabotage . because we do not have the ability to resolve crime."
Johan Burger, an Institute for Security Studies senior researcher, said it was worrying that, as well as being poorly trained, detectives were also overworked.
Because of the high crime levels, a single detective handles about 100 dockets or investigations on average instead of the acceptable 60 dockets.
"In some cases, individual detectives add to their burden by their own sloppy work, such as poor docket administration, poor quality of statements and bad time management," said Burger.
The police needed to increase detective numbers by at least 20% to decrease the workload on existing detectives and make possible the speedier resolution of cases.
Crimes of the South African Police Service
4 black SAPS constables convicted in Cape High Court for kidnapping, armed robbery of Milnerton businessman April 2010 praise for d/sgt Edward Edwardes for catching organised crooked-cop gang
14:53 Jun 12 2012 Milnerton, West Cape
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Blacks Protesting Against the South African Police Service (Piega+PIG)
THEMBA HADEBE / AP
An unidentified woman holds a placard as she protests against the police near a shooting scene at the Lonmin mine near Rustenburg, South Africa.
Picture source: http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2018934934_apafsouthafricamineviolence.html
Crimes of the South African Police Service
What Blacks are thinking about the South African Police Service
Picture source:
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Black Woman Weeps after The police South African Police Service Murdered Miners.
A woman cries as she confronts police during a protest over the killing of 34 miners at the Lonmin platinum mine. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Protests At the South African Consulate in Toronto at the way the South African Police Service murdered miners in cold blood!!!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Captain arrested for rape in Robertson, Western Cape -
Pretoria - 13 November 2012
A 40 year old Captain stationed at Worcester was arrested for rape on 12 November 2012
A 40 year old Captain stationed at Worcester was arrested for rape on 12 November 2012
Read more http://www.ipid.gov.za/
Crimes of the South African Police Service
A Reservist was arrested for both murder and attempted murder in Khuma North West Province
Pretoria - 06 November 2012
An arrest of a 33 year old Reservist policeman was made for the murder, and attempted murder after the shooting of two men, one of whom died.
Pretoria - 06 November 2012
An arrest of a 33 year old Reservist policeman was made for the murder, and attempted murder after the shooting of two men, one of whom died.
Read more http://www.ipid.gov.za/
Crimes of the South African Police Service
A Constable has been arrested for murder as well as other offences in Mondeor Pretoria
05 November 2012
An investigation that has taken place into an attempted escape of a man in custody resulted in the arrest of a policeman at the Randburg Magistrates Court in Johannesburg.
An investigation that has taken place into an attempted escape of a man in custody resulted in the arrest of a policeman at the Randburg Magistrates Court in Johannesburg.
Read more http://www.ipid.gov.za/
Crimes of the South African Police Service
A Warrant Officer has been arrested for murder - Newlands East Pretoria
23 October 2012
A Warrant Officer has been arrested for the murder of Mr Romano Dean Govender in Newlands West.
A Warrant Officer has been arrested for the murder of Mr Romano Dean Govender in Newlands West.
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Pretoria - 16 October 2012 Constable Mokolo Karpos Molekoa is supposedly to appear at a Magistrate’s court in Randburg.
Read more http://www.ipid.gov.za/
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Marikana Commission: 'Prima facie case for tampering with evidence'
Quote: On Monday, the Marikana Commission of Inquiry saw photos taken by the police after the 16 August massacre. The photos are taken by different police officers at different times, and some bodies are surrounded by weapons in one set of pictures, not in another. Some lawyers already believe that the crime scene was tampered with by the police, and that they have a prima facie case of defeating the ends of justice to answer. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
Read more
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Hijack doctor’s victory over police
July 9 2012 at 07:53am
By Tania Broughton
By Tania Broughton
Jacinto John Kapp
Durban - A doctor who was shot in a botched hijacking by what he believes was an escaped prisoner with a stolen police gun has secured a Durban High Court order compelling the police to allow his own forensic expert to examine the bullet and casings found at the scene.
Jacinto John Kapp, who now works as a GP at a government hospital in the Eastern Cape, says the dangerous prisoner, who had been arrested on a charge of murder, escaped from police cells because of police negligence.
If he can prove, through a ballistic examination, that the bullet which lodged in his seat after shattering his elbow came from a cop gun, it will help prove a multimillion-rand damages claim against the minister of safety and security.
Kapp, now 33, was doing his community service at a hospital in Mthatha at the time of the shooting in April 2005. He was returning to work after visiting his parents in Kloof when he was shot by a man on the side of the road.
Although in great pain, he managed to drive away and was later assisted by the driver of a minibus taxi, who took him to hospital.
He underwent surgery to re-attach damaged nerves, but has been left with limited movement in three fingers on his left hand, effectively dashing his dream of becoming a paediatric surgeon.
The following year, he served a summons on the minister, alleging that the man who had fired the shot was Siphamandla Njiyela, a “dangerous criminal” who had been arrested for the murder of his wife and was being detained at the Gowanlea police station.
He says a day before he was shot, Njiyela and other prisoners overpowered police guard TS Lungongolo, stealing his gun before fleeing.
Kapp says Lungongolo was negligent because he had not followed police procedures in dealing with dangerous and violent criminals.
The State is opposing his claim, but admits Lungongolo had been working alone because his fellow guard had become ill “and had to go away to sleep”. Lungongolo, the State says, responded “urgently” to a cry for help from one of the prisoners inside the cell and went in alone, with his firearm loaded.
However, the State denies negligence. It also initially denied any knowledge of the attempted murder and hijacking of Kapp, although it later admitted a docket had been opened against Njiyela because a witness had seen him in the area just before the shooting.
Kapp’s attorney Ian King says a statement from an off-duty policeman who knew Njiyela by sight, but did not want to approach him because he was unarmed, said he could see that Njiyela had a firearm. Njiyela was arrested a few days after Kapp was shot, still in possession of the firearm.
While he was now serving a sentence of life imprisonment for the murder of his wife, “there seems to be little effort to prosecute him for the Kapp incident”, King said.
Tests run on the cartridges and the bullet – which was damaged and smeared with blood – by State forensic experts were inconclusive, and Kapp therefore hired his own expert, Kobus Steyl.
King said the State had initially been co-operative, and Steyl got access to exhibits in April 2011.
After discussions with a Captain Van der Sandt from the ballistics unit, it appeared there was consensus that the bullet had come from a police-issue firearm, and that they would draft a “joint expert minute”. But this did not materialise, and the State attorney then advised: “We have received instructions which are that we should not make any concessions at this stage.”
Arrangements were made for Steyl to examine the exhibits again, but it was stopped abruptly by an unnamed brigadier.
King also alleges he has information that after the escape Lungongolo was disciplined and fined, but the State denies this is true.
When Kapp’s application came before Durban High Court Judge Shyam Gyanda recently, Kapp’s advocate, Garth Harrison, said before the inspection was stopped Steyl had already found on the bullet three of the six matches required.
The judge ordered that Steyl be allowed to continue with his inspection. If he was barred, the unit commander of the forensic laboratory would have to come to court. - The Mercury
Crimes of the South African Police Service
Police minister in voting scandal
December 5 2012 at 07:50am
INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS
Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa. File photo by Oupa Mokoena
BY SOLLY MAPHUMULO, BALDWIN NDABA AND POLOKO TAU
Johannesburg - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, an ally of President Jacob Zuma, allegedly hijacked the North West nomination conference and replaced Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s supporters with bogus delegates before instructing the police to shoot anti-Zuma delegates…..
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Crimes of the South African Police Service
What analysts are saying about the South African Police Services and the HAWKS
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