Inside the collapse of police gun control

Incompetence, corruption and colluding with criminals are part of the things contributing to police failure to recover their stolen guns, according to experts.

Statistics revealed that more than 3 400 firearms belonging to the South African Police Service (Saps) were lost or stolen between 2019 and 2024, and only 559 have been recovered.

According to the statistics, robbery and theft contributed mostly to the loss of police firearms.

Robbery and theft contributed mostly to lost police guns

Be that as it may, the statistics did not state where exactly the weapons were stolen or how many cops were charged or punished for losing their firearms.

Several days ago, two police officers were reportedly shot and killed by the criminals in Ivory Park and, later, their firearms were found in possession of the criminals linked to the shooting.

The DA recently released a statement accusing Saps of endangering the public by failing to recover its own firearms that were stolen.

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DA deputy spokesperson on police Ian Cameron said since many firearms have not been recovered, it means that the vast majority remain in the hands of criminals.

Cameron said the worrying factor was that the missing guns were being used to commit violent crimes, including robbery, assault and murder.

“Most losses occurred through robbery and theft, not mere negligence, showing the scale of criminal activity targeting the police themselves. This exposes a serious failure in Saps management of firearms. The problem is mismanagement, corruption and the collapse of the Central Firearms Register.”

Systematic failure firearm management

Claire Taylor, a researcher and policy analyst for Gun Free South Africa, said the figures for police gun losses revealed systemic failure in Saps firearm management.

Taylor said the problem has been going on over the past 10 years, indicating that any strategies to prevent police gun theft have not been effective.

“But we need to look at the bigger picture. While Saps reported the loss or theft of over 3  400 guns, which is an average of two firearms daily over the past five years, while under the same period, civilians reported the loss of 33 000 guns, an average of 18 per day.

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“Ballistic testing of recovered guns shows that 20% were used to commit murder.

“We cannot reduce gun violence without addressing the primary source of illegal firearms, which are licensed guns held by the state and civilians.

“This means going upstream and tightening controls over all licensed guns to reduce leakage into the illegal pool. A key way to do this is to fix the Central Firearms Registry. Accurate records on every firearm and firearm owner are not an administrative burden but a key crime-fighting tool,” said Taylor.

Taylor said the recovery rate of civilian firearms has consistently been higher than police issued guns, which suggests that police gun thefts may involve more inside knowledge or collusion rather than just opportunistic targeting by criminals.

Police stealing guns and selling them

“We have many examples of police members stealing guns and selling them, and the fact that there is such a low recovery rate of police weapons compared to the recovery rate of civilian guns, which averages about 60%, would indicate that there is more collusion in the theft than just opportunistic criminality. Current systems create opportunities for both negligence and criminality,” she said.

She further said failure to recover police stolen guns was unacceptable and suggests investigative failure, inadequate resources, or lack of priority.

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She added that the illegal firearms pool keeps growing because of the failure to prevent legal guns from leaking into the hands of criminals.

“One of the drivers facilitating the leakage of guns is the long-standing systemic dysfunction of the Central Firearms Registry. Without accurate records, it becomes impossible to track firearms, identify losses, or hold officials accountable. A vital step to addressing the gun violence crisis in SA is to fix our firearm record keeping system.”

University of Limpopo’s criminology expert Prof Witness Maluleke said the organised nature of criminal operations and networks was complicated, as the firearms were used to commit heinous crimes and the criminals were extra careful. They know the consequences of using such firearms, which is why it is not easy to locate them.

Criminals extra careful

“Unfortunately, a smaller number of firearms are recovered, displaying Saps failures to win this war.

“Their failures are rooted in poor investigation, corruption, lack of oversight and accountability, among others. This should be urgently looked at by the management and other oversight bodies.”

Willem Els, an expert from the Institute for Security Studies, said in most cases, the law enforcement agencies’ firearms were sold and reported stolen by corrupt individuals.

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Els added that some officers rent their guns to criminals, who would commit crime and return the firearm to the officer.

But he said in some instances, police and employees from private companies were targeted by criminals.

“Not all police officers are corrupt, but some of these police officers and soldiers are actually selling their firearms to these criminal networks or renting them out.

“To curb this is to sit down with all the different role players, start from scratch, develop an evidence-based strategy that all the different role players will have to buy into.

When police lose guns accountability cuts both ways

According to criminologists interviewed by The Citizen, the investigation process when a police officer loses a firearm could be a two-way process.

Firstly, if the firearm was taken from a holster or a mounted safe in the house by criminals, no criminal offence or negligence will be registered by the attached police station.

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Secondly, if the firearm was taken or went missing from a house or a car, or any location it was not supposed to be, a police officer can possibly be charged with negligence.

Then, the internal inquiry can be initiated, or investigations to be staged to determine the nature and extent of the reported missing weapon, which will determine the registration of misconduct or negligence outcome.

For recourse, the affected cops are always urged to report the stolen and missing firearms to their station commanders to ease suspicions and avoid further charges.

The meted negligence or misconduct charge can often lead to suspension pending further internal investigation, which can lead to dismissal if found guilty, as this is regarded as a serious violation or misconduct.

The experts say there are instances in which these kinds of cases could end up in court.