Government vows to crack the whip against police inefficiency
The majority of the complaints received by the community safety department related to police inefficiency are service delivery related.
The Gauteng community safety department vowed to “crack the whip” against police inefficiency by strengthening its oversight role in the ranks of law enforcement in the province.
There have been allegations of inefficiency complaints which included poor response times, missing dockets, a lack of feedback, abuse of power and police inaction.
Departmental spokesperson Ofentse Morwane said there had also been growing concerns of police using excessive force against citizens who failed to comply with lockdown regulations and inefficiency in dealing with gender-based violence incidents since the Covid-19 lockdown was effected in March.
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During the teething phase of the national lockdown, strict regulations were put in place to curb the spread of the virus while citizens were encouraged to stay at home unless they required essential services.
The regulations also extended to travel bans and restrictions over public transport.
Morwane said 288 complaints were received and investigated during the 2019/2020 financial year.
“Of the 288 complaints received, 107 (37%) related to poor service delivery; 81 (28%) to poor investigation; 67 (23%) to poor communication; 26 (9%) to unprofessional conduct and 7 (3%) to miscellaneous complaints,” Morwane said.
He said they had been hard at work educating citizens about the department’s oversight role and the need for them to report all matters related to police inefficiency to enable them [the department] to improve policing in Gauteng.
“It is critical that the police are held accountable in the province.
“The department has a dedicated team which is mandated to visit police stations on a regular basis to ensure that the service is not in any way compromised,” Morwane said.
He said that part of the team’s work was to conduct docket audits to ensure there was quality in the investigation of cases.
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“Where there are elements of poor investigation the leadership of the police are held accountable.”
Morwane said that the department was bound by duty to recommend remedial actions on complaints received by members of the public which related to poor service by police, fraud and corruption at any of the province’s 142 police stations.
“The department is aware that some police officers lack integrity while the majority of them are genuine and honest in their mandate to combat crime and keep Gauteng a corruption-free province.”
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