Should off-duty cops take their weapons home, Ipid asks

The question of whether off-duty police officers should be allowed to take weapons home has been raised following concerns raised by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).

The unit recently expressed concern over the abuse of firearms by off-duty police officers, after a murder case was opened against a SA Police Service (SAPS) officer in KwaZulu-Natal.

This prompted a gun control advocacy group to suggest the police did not conduct enough research into the circumstances surrounding the increasing incidences of death and gun violence involving off-duty police officers.

Gun Free SA spokesperson Adele Kirsten said more data was needed to investigate the correlation between the possession of guns by off-duty officers and murders either committed by officers, or their deaths.

Only by finding out what the biggest causes behind deaths involving off-duty officers are could it be decided whether off-duty officers should carry guns and why.

Ipid spokesperson Sontaga Seisa lamented the death of a man, 28, allegedly at the hands of an off-duty police officer in Inanda, Durban.

According to Seisa, the incident took place near a liquor outlet at about 4am.

A constable got into an argument with the deceased before he retrieved his police-issued pistol from his vehicle. He allegedly shot the other man five times.

Ipid is investigating the case.

“Ipid is concerned about how some police officials are conducting themselves, especially when are they are off duty,” said Seisa.

“Some have a tendency of visiting public entertainment areas and/or liquor outlets whilst having access to the firearms.

“This should not be the case or practice as the firearm legislation is clear on how to manage and handle all firearms.”

Kirsten said: “The question is: should cops take guns home?

“That is a difficult question and we have engaged with trade unions on this issue, given the high level of crime.

“The unions will tell you that police officers are at higher risk of being targeted [by criminals] because they were known to be carrying weapons, but we do not have evidence of this.”

According to the last official statistics on the issue – from 2014 to 2015 – a third of all officers killed that year were off duty.

Kirsten said SAPS needed to broaden its data scope to specifically deal with police behaviour.

“We know there has been an increase in off-duty police officers killing their partners and children … so I think we need to [have] this conversation, about what the risks are for cops being targeted for their weapons, as well as the risk of cops abusing their weapons after hours.

“So that is why we think SAPS needs to do an audit of who needs guns when they are off duty.”

She added that SAPS also needed to review its policy on allowing off-duty officers to take guns home and be stricter on dishing out permits for officers to do so.

– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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