JUSTICE, CRIME PREVENTION AND SECURITY CLUSTER

JUSTICE, CRIME PREVENTION AND SECURITY CLUSTER
STATEMENT FOR MEDIA BRIEFING
2001- 02-12

INTRODUCTION

As stated during our previous media briefings, the main objective of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS) is to focus its endeavours and resources jointly in addressing the incidence of crime, public disorder and to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system and those aspects that have a negative impact on development the socio-economic of our country.

To achieve these objectives we are jointly focussing on the integration of the Criminal Justice System which we are convinced will increase effectiveness and efficiency.

During June 2000, when reviewing the first three months of Operation Crackdown the National Commissioner of Police and his top management were not satisfied with the reliability of crime statistics.

Commissioner Selebi ordered that the system of gathering the statistics be reviewed in its entirety in order to optimise operational planning. The National Commissioner advised me accordingly, and after careful deliberation I decided that I could not, with a clear conscience, continue to release crime statistics to the public which the top management of the SAPS viewed with scepticism.

It was therefore considered of paramount importance that neither the public nor our operations be misguided or misled with inaccurate statistics. The Minister, (that is myself) therefore, on 20 July 2000, imposed a moratorium on the release of crime statistics.

A task team was appointed under the guidance of a Deputy National Commissioner and an implementation plan was formulated with target dates extending to mid-2001. This task team discovered that most of the problems existed at grass-roots level with members not defining crimes correctly and thus entering the wrong crimes onto the system, entering crime in the incorrect geographical areas onto the systems or using the wrong crime codes.

The command and control over this process was also weak at many police stations and the lack of proper equipment at other stations was also identified as a problem area.

To date, over 3 000 members have been trained with regard to the capturing, extraction and analysis of crime information as part of the implementation plan. Standardised crime definitions and counting rules have also been developed. Two hundred and six additional civilian members have already been employed at key police stations to assist with the capturing of crime data.

Enlistment of a further 300 data typists is receiving attention and this process should be completed by April 2001. Relevant IT systems are in the process of improvement in respect of issues such as down time, user friendliness, integration with other crime related systems, crime codes and geographical reporting blocks. Additional work stations to the amount of R1,3 million will be installed during 2001.

Indications at present are that I will be in a position to review the moratorium at the latest at the end of June 2001. To put in place a proper and fairly reliable structure is a top priority for the Cluster.

We have been successful as a Cluster in managing the tensions between SAPS and the Scorpions. Obviously these were teething problems which arose in the course of our general offensive against criminals. Together with Correctional Services, the SAPS, the Scorpions, NIA and SASS will step up the offensive against crime.

We are gearing ourselves to ensuring that intelligence plays a central role in our investigations. For instance:

- it will assist in breaking the back of all organised crime both internally and internationally;
- it will be assisting in cracking organised syndicates in prisons;
- as well as giving profiles on crime tendencies and wanted persons and syndicates.

The second priority is to deal with the case backlogs. The seriousness of the situation was captured recently when the NDPP told the Cluster DGs that if nobody was arrested for two years, it would take the same number of years to clear the backlog. But more and more offenders are being added on a daily basis to the long queue of awaiting trial prisoners, with more than 55 000 facing serious cases of murder, rape and other violent crimes. We are nonetheless happy to report that a plan of action has been developed to reduce case backlogs in the already overburdened regional courts which deal with serious crimes. An additional budget of R8 million has been set aside in the coming financial year to provide for additional magistrates and prosecutors. Swift prosecution of criminals will contribute immensely towards our goal of bringing down the levels of internal and cross-border crime. As from the 17^th February till the end of March arrangements have been made to extend court hours to Saturdays at various regional courts and Correctional Services will increase its capacity to manage increases in the inmate population.

To deal with the overcrowding of prisons the Departments of Correctional Services, Justice and Constitutional Development have, inter alia, initiated:-
- the release of offenders with bail amounting to RIOOO or less. Offenders
were, however, still compelled to attend their trials. These releases over a
period of six months decreased the number of awaiting trial prisoners from
63 964 to 48 300;
- the advancement of parole dates, through releases in Community Corrections Systems resulting in 5256 offenders being released for further monitoring in communities; and
- the piloted integrated action by departments to review cases and reduce the average detention cycle time of awaiting trial offenders by 40%, that is from 122 days to 87 days.

To expand its accommodation capacity Correctional Services commissioned the new Qalakabusha Prison with a capacity for 1 392 beds at Empangeni which was opened on 4 November 2000. A further two new prisons are in advanced stages of completion and will be commissioned during 2001, namely:

· Kokstad Closed Maximum Prison for 1 440 prisoners
· Devon Pre-Release Centre near Springs for 600 prisoners.

During last year the Department also finalized agreements for the erection of two new APOPS prisons in accordance with the Public, Private Partnership System and the construction of these prisons has already started.

· Bloemfontein with a capacity for 2 928 prisoners
· Louis Trichardt with a capacity for 3 024 prisoners

The Cluster will also continue during the next financial year with the implementation of various information technology related projects. The automation of criminal and civil justice processes in the Johannesburg and Durban courts, their branch courts, selected police stations, prisons and facilities of the Department of Social Development have been set for completion for March 2003. During the same period a National Photo Image System will be implemented to increase the investigative capacity of the SAPS by creating a digital photo album for identification and exhibit management purposes. An Inmate Tracking System, which will alleviate blockages associated with the identification, verification and monitoring of prisoners in various Correctional Services, Social Development and SAPS holding facilities, should be completed by March 2004. Already a contract has been agreed upon for the introduction of an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) which will enhance the speedy and cost effective identification of fingerprints.

Other projects include:
- the implementation of an electronic data interchange system whereby Correctional Services will notify the SAPS on the release of sentenced prisoners;
- the extending of accessibility to the SAPS Crime Administration System (CAS) and Criminal Record ldentification System (CRIM) to the Departments of Justice, Correctional Services and Social Development;
- the establishment of a communication technology infrastructure for the Integrated Justice System Departments; and
- the establishment of a detention control system.

New Parole Boards will soon be replacing the present parole system. In terms of the current parole system, only members of the Department of Correctional Services serve on the Parole Boards.

The composition of the new Parole Boards will include two permanent members from the community and one from the Department, and will be chaired by a member from the community.

A White Paper on Correctional Services is being developed, which is aimed at formulating long-term policies to address the major issues facing the Department.

All those processes are intended to hasten the transformation of the criminal justice system into an effective instrument of investigation and prosecution of crime.

The cluster has also decided to focus on the following additional initiatives in the 124 priority police stations during 2001/2002:

- with the aid of Intelligence and other Government/State operators against Crime, the Cluster will also concentrate on crime and syndicates operating from prison;

- to continue with operations such as roadblocks and cordon and search operations as part of Operation Crackdown;

- to establish special tracing teams to arrest persons for whom warrants of arrest have been issued for serious and violent crimes;

- to implement a zero-tolerance approach towards less serious crime; and

- to improve our intelligence capacity around the profiling of criminal syndicates in the priority stations.

Special attention will be given during the 2001/2002 financial year to improve the functioning of the Integrated Justice System Departments in the 124 high crime areas. For example:

- The SAPS will increase its capacity at station level to sustain the successes achieved through Operation Crackdown. Fifty fully-equipped crime prevention units will be established in 2001 to implement sector policing. A new specialised crime prevention training course will also be introduced in 2001. Air-supported reaction forces will be established in Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape to decrease the response time for crimes such as vehicle hijacking, armed robbery and other serious crimes. The first of these reaction forces has already been established in Gauteng during January 2001 as part of Operation Tshwane. The reaction force contributed to the arrest of more than 20 hijackers during the first two weeks of the operation. SAPS aircraft will also befitted with tracker systems for the purpose of tracking hijacked vehicles.

The Cluster will ensure the expansion of the organised crime approach during 2001/2002 by:

- establishing additional organised crime task teams. For this purpose more than 500 SAPS specialised investigation units are being transformed into only two types of units, namely, the Organised Crime Units and the Serious and Violent Crime Units. Existing specialised units such as SANAB, Vehicle Crime, Commercial Branch and Stock Theft Units are now becoming part of the Organised Crime Units; while Murder and Robbery, Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences and Taxi Violence units are being incorporated into Serious and Violent Crime Units. Border police will also be included in the Organised Crime Task Teams to ensure the combating of this crime tendency at ports of entry. The establishment of Multi-disciplinary Rapid Response Teams at ports of entry has already led to an improvement in border control operations and the combating of cross-border crime.

Further, and as part of our overall drive to bring communities on board, a single structure between communities and the relevant Cluster Departments will be established to ensure an integrated approach to community involvement in the Integrated Justice System. This will mean an integration of Community Police Fora and liaison structures of other Departments with communities.

The Cluster will also launch a major community mobilisation programme in the 124 priority police stations areas in co-operation with community structures. The purpose of this campaign will be to provide crime prevention guidelines, discourage communities from turning themselves into markets for stolen goods, and to establish crime prevention partnerships.

In relation to the stabilisation of Public Order related flashpoints, the Cluster will establish a Rapid Deployment Stability Force in 2001 to be utilised in the event of serious incidents. The aim of such a force will be to ensure immediate stabilisation of an area and to provide the opportunity to other role-players to put the necessary plans in place for longer-term stabilisation and normalisation. To implement this priority the SAPS will establish Intervention Units in each of the nine Provinces, as well as a National Intervention Unit.

Taxi violence will receive attention from the Cluster by developing and implementing a comprehensive security plan before the end of February 2001 to deal with security-related issues around the restructuring of the taxi industry

The Cluster will also pay special attention during 2001/2002 to gang violence and gang activities in various parts of the country. An integrated task group has been established in the Western Cape in January 2001 to implement the first phase of the strategy. Operations over the past weeks already produced successes in this regard. More than 250 suspects were arrested in connection with gang violence during January 2001, including 14 arrests for murder, 10 for attempted murder, 11 for rape, 8 for robbery and armed robbery, 11 for the possession of unlicensed firearms and 54 for the possession of dagga and other drugs. The Department of Correctional Services has established task forces to deal with gang violence in prisons. Some results were recently achieved when some of the offenders linked to gangs in the community were sent to different prisons.

Finally, the Cluster will tackle the problem of corruption head-on. It is, we must admit, a serious scourge which has for some time now frustrated the efforts of our Police Service, the court and prisons to deal with criminals swiftly and proficiently.