Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed in a response to a parliamentary question that 5.4 million case dockets and investigations were closed without results due to lack of leads in the past five years.
Law-abiding citizens, especially victims of crimes should be worried about the crime detection services in the SAPS.
This is particularly so if the rate at which case dockets are being closed by the police is anything to go by.
It was reported this week that Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed in a response to a parliamentary question that 5.4 million case dockets and investigations were closed without results due to lack of leads in the past five years.
This effectively means that 1 million case dockets are being closed by the police in just a single year.
Cele’s admission corresponds with a recent response by his justice counterpart Ronald Lamola, who revealed that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) returned 1.8 million dockets to the police for further investigation in the past five financial years.
The shocking figures on the closure of dockets by police, and the NPA returning incomplete dockets point to problems in the SAPS detective services.
Far too many perpetrators are roaming the streets and are ready to pounce on their next victim knowing that they will go unpunished.
In its 2022–23 annual report, the SAPS admits that the detective programme recorded “the lowest performance with a total of 30 performance targets and an achievement rate of 43.33%, indicating that the programme performed significantly below expectations”.
The detectives underperformed in various areas, including the detection rate for contact crimes, outstanding dockets older than three years and case exhibits not yet finalised.
“High ratio of case dockets per detective, as a result of employee turnover, is not conducive to effective investigation,” reads the report.
This takes place when the SAPS spent R42.6 million on petrol and diesel for vehicles used by the VIP protection services in the past six years.
Much more needs to be done to capacitate and employ more officers to reduce the overload of the detectives to do quality investigative work required to secure successful prosecutions.
Channelling more funds and resources to the detective service is one step towards winning the fight against crime.
Cape Times
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