“Police may not turn complainants away” – Umhlali SAPS station commander

Umhlali SAPS head, Colonel Makhathini, has condemned the actions of police officers who have been accused of turning away people who want to open criminal cases at her station.

This comes after a number of residents have complained about being ignored, discouraged and sent home from the Umhlali charge office.

In a recent incident, a Ballito homeowner was told it was too late to open a case when he attempted to do so a day after two men were arrested by a security company for entering into his property in the early hours of the morning. The suspects were back on the streets hours after being caught.

The resident, who tried to open a case twice in one day without success, said: “I hesitated to go through all the effort of opening a case for this reason.”

Umhlali SAPS station commander Colonel Makhathini said that any case with criminal elements should be opened regardless of the time frame.

“We should be opening cases even if the incident took place a year ago because people are within their rights to do so even if they do not have a suspect. The point of a case is for police to investigate.”

Also read: Trespassing burglars let off with a warning – Ballito

However, Makhathini said there were some instances where people could be turned away, generally if the complaint was a civil matter.

“We do turn people away if the elements of a crime does not fit the criteria for an investigation. For example, we get scenarios where people report that a contractor fled with their money and did not complete the job they were hired to do. Here we advise people to seek help from the small claims court.

“We also sometimes advise victims of domestic violence who do not want to have their spouse arrested and prosecuted, to go to the family violence court where they can get a protection or harassment order to force their partner to refrain.”

Makhathini said that in instances where a criminal case could not be opened, officers are to advise people of alternative measures. They are also responsible for recording that a case was not opened and the reason.

“If someone wants to open a case but there are no merits for it then we fill in something called a charge refusal document.

“There should be no instances where people are turned away – we should either help or redirect them.”

The station commander said that while she will be investigating claims that people are being turned away by her staff, she encouraged complainants to report such instances to her or to the Umhlali SAPS communications officer captain Vinny Pillay.

“People have every right to ask the officer their name and to report that they are unsatisfied.”

Colonel Makhathini can be contacted at 079 500 0693 and captain Vinny Pillay at 073 310 0103.

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