Briefing to the Portfolio Briefing to the Portfolio Committee for Safety and Committee for Safety and

Security.Security.Friday, 11 April 2003Friday, 11 April 2003

STRATEGIC FOCUS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE

SERVICE 2002 to 2005

BackgroundBackground

In 2000, top Management of the South African Police Service (SAPS) implemented an Integrated Strategic Plan which was primarily aimed at organized and serious and violent crimes, by focusing on:

Crime syndicates involved in crimes relating to drugs, firearms and vehicles;

Corruption; and Commercial crime

The proliferation of firearms and the extent to which they were used to commit murder, armed robberies, heists and hijackings;

High-crime areas; Inter group violence, including political violence, taxi and

train violence, gang violence, faction fighting, as well as flashpoint areas.

In order to give effect to the Integrated Strategic Plan, the South African Police Service had to re-evaluate its approach to investigate methods and its capacity.

In the past, the South African Police Service’s specialized units investigated organized crime, serious and violent crime and commercial crime in a fragmented fashion. For example, the Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit - vehicle crime, the Firearm Investigation units - crimes relating to firearms, while the Fraud units investigated fraud.

This approach had the following disadvantages :

A reactive approach was adopted in responding to reported crimes (as apposed to an approach to investigate the syndicates involved in crimes)

Investigating officers did not share information/ intelligence; The organized fashion of crime was often ignored Functions and duties relating to investigations within the

various units were often duplicated Payments for information/intelligence to informers were at

times duplicated

There were also several other shortcomings that had a negative impact on the effectiveness of investigations and the level of services rendered, namely –

The way in which units were placed (in that they were geographically not placed in close proximity of major threats)

Skewed resource allocation and low productivity The susceptibility of staff to corrupt practices Disempowerment of local level policing (functions that could best

be performed at local level, were performed by specialized units) A lack of transformation in the specialized units (with special

reference to the composition of these units)

It was therefore decided to combat organized crime, serious and violent crime and commercial crime by adopting an integrated, intelligence-driven approach directed at crime syndicates and countering the organized crime threat.

The process of implementation had to be structured in such a way that it enhanced and strengthened the capacity of investigating officers in the South African Police Service at local level to such an extent that they could investigate and combat crime effectively.

ApproachApproach The procedure followed to establish the aforementioned

integrated approach, entailed :

The creation of multi-disciplinary units with a view to effectively investigate –

Organized crime (by using syndicate-based intelligence and analyses of the organized crime threat)

Serious and violent crime Commercial crime Crimes against women and children

The establishment of Provincial Organized Crime Secretariats.

Streamlining of functions performed by specialized investigation units

Implementation of a vetting/selection procedure for investigating officers attached to the above units regarding security clearances, educational qualifications and personality analyses

Creation of new units to clamp down on corrupt officials involved in organized crime (as opposed to incidents of corruption in general)

Optimal use of staff and physical resources in terms of : Operational needs Priorities Cost-effectiveness; Productivity; and The equitable placement of resources

Ensuring public confidence in detective units (units must be acceptable and have credibility in the eyes of the community)

In practice, the implementation of this process entailed the gradual phasing out of most of the specialized investigation units.

The functions of the closed units are incorporated into those of the organized crime units, serious and violent crime units, commercial branches, FCS units and the local detective units.

As the process unfolded, however, it became clear that the Detective Service could not be restructured overnight, which resulted in the adoption of a phased approach.

The above phases are as follows : Phase one (concluded) The identification of specialized units that had to be closed Establishment of organized crime and serious and violent crime units

and/or increasing the capacity of such units.

Phase two (concluded) Evaluation of established organized crime and serious and violent

crime units Establishment of additional organized crime and serious and violent

crime units. Establishment of commercial branches.

Phase three (to be concluded) Evaluation and closure of remaining specialized units (Please note,

however, it is envisaged that Stock Theft, and if deemed necessary, other units dealing with cross-border crimes, will continue to exist)

Communication/ConsultationCommunication/Consultation

Extensive communication and consultation between the following parties have taken place since 2000:

SAPS Top Management (Management Forum, Provincial Management);

Officers and employees of the SAPS; Organized Labour at national and provincial level National and local media

Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security Standing Committee on Public Accounts

(SCOPA) Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement

of Quality of Life and Status of Children, Youth and Disabled Persons

Banking Council Agricultural Fora/Farmers’ associations Institute of Security Studies Business Against Crime

Status of the Status of the implementation processimplementation process

Before the restructure of the Detective Service began in 2000, there were 534 specialized units in the Detective Service, comprising of -

The Narcotics Bureau (SANAB) The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual

Offences Unit (FCS) Commercial Crime Unit Fraud Unit Syndicate Fraud Unit

Serious and Economic Offences Unit Organized Crime Unit Serious and Violent Crime Unit Theft in Transit Unit Stock Theft Unit Vehicle Crime Unit Murder and Robbery Unit Diamond and Gold Unit Anti-Corruption Unit

270 units have been closed since the implementation of the new integrated approach.

The SA Narcotics Bureau, Anti-Corruption and Murder and Robbery Units are some of the units that were recently identified as units that will be closed during Phase 3 of the restructuring of the Detective Service.

The latter phase came into effect during the implementation of Resolution 7/2002 and the South African Police Service’s Resource Establishment Plan for the financial year 2002/2003.

The following specialized units exist:

FCS 51 Commercial Branch 17 Serious Economic Offences 1 Organized Crime 26 Serious and Violent Crime 29 Stock Theft 63 Gold and Diamond 13

Sub-Total 200

Specialized Investigation Support (Vehicle Crime : Non-investigative functions)

Vehicle Identification 46 Vehicle Safeguarding 17

Sub-Total 63

Total 263

Successes : A New ApproachSuccesses : A New Approach

The following are examples of successes achievedsince the new approach was adopted (SAPS AnnualReport 2001/2)

21 undercover operations, during which 230 crime syndicates were exposed and 85 syndicate leaders prosecuted. Altogether 1 834 suspects were arrested for their involvement in crime syndicates and 343 members of organized crime syndicates were prosecuted.

Successes achieved during investigations into organized crime syndicates by the Commercial Branch included 1 935 arrests. The estimated value of goods seized from arrested persons amounted to more than R80 million.

Drugs valued at about R1 140 million were seized during the investigation of drug-related crimes.

Items to the value of about R16 million were confiscated during the investigation of crimes relating to endangered species.

Altogether 51 986 vehicles were recovered during the investigation of crimes relating to vehicles.

ConclusionConclusion The Detective Service is in the final stage of

reorganization to bring it into line with the integrated approach adopted by the SAPS.

Its aim is to ensure integrated policing through multi-disciplinary interventions, under one operational management structure.

All efforts will be aligned - not only within the SAPS, but also with the relevant clusters of the Criminal Justice System.

Conclusion - continue Conclusion - continue

The focus of the crime-combating operations will therefore be on crime syndicates rather than on certain crimes only.

THE END