Complaints concerning cases not opened at police stations
SAPS issued these guidelines amid receiving complaints regarding difficulties in opening cases at stations.
Police recently noted with concern the number of problems locals encounter when reporting a case at their local station.
In a statement police said, members in various stations have refused to open a case involving women and children for the following reasons:
– The complainant cannot identify the suspect by name.
– The complainant did not bring the suspect to the police station.
– The crime did not happen within the station’s boundary.
– The member attending to the complainant does not think that the incident is serious enough.
– The complainant is told to resolve the issue with the suspect.
Police have described such conduct as “unacceptable” and advised complainants to take note of the following guidelines should they wish to open a case.
The National Instruction 3 of 2011 regulates the opening and registering of case dockets.
Section 1 states that an officer who receives the complaint must interview the complainant to determine if the complaint meets the requirement for that specific crime.
Section 2 states that complainants must never be referred to another police station even if the crime was committed in another police jurisdiction.
The Community Service Centre (CSC) is responsible for ensuring that:
– Complainants, whether the crime was committed in his/her station area or the station area of another police station, are to be treated courteously and a comprehensive affidavit is taken from the complainant or reporter of the crime.
– Complainants or reporters of crime are not referred to another station to lodge complaints of crime
– All complaints and reports made by the public receive immediate attention
– Cluster and station commanders ensure that all officers who do not comply with the instruction are subjected to disciplinary action.
Police urged any resident who was refused an opportunity to open a case to report such incidents to the National Complaints Centre on 0800 333 177 or 0860 264 487.
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