The number of detectives at police stations across the country has declined by more than 1,400 more than the past four years.
A written reply by police minister Bheki Cele to parliament in May shows that the number of general detectives at police station level had declined from 21,002 in 2019 to 19,598 this year. This is a decline of 1,404.
The number of specialised detectives also declined by 33 — from 4,898 in 2019 to 4,865 this year. However, the response showed specialised detectives at provincial level increased from 538 in 2019 to 825 this year.
DA MP Andrew Whitfield, who posed the question to Cele, said there is no planning to address the shortage of detectives.
“Senior detectives are retiring but the systems within the police are so bad they are not planning for succession to make sure that there is a pipeline of detectives that are coming through, being mentored and developed...
“We also see people resigning because there is too much work pressure. There is one detective in Pietermaritzburg with 280 dockets. How can one detective carry such a caseload of 280 dockets? Eventually, something will give in, people resign,” Whitfield said.
Detectives play a key role in policing as they are the ones who investigate cases, arrest suspects and provide evidence to prosecutors in court.
Stellenbosch University criminologist Dr Guy Lamb attributed the drop in the number of detectives to poor working conditions and better salaries in the private sector.
“Other detectives go to the private sector because of the much better salary packages there. They work for corporate clients and are equipped with resources to do their work,’’ said Lamb.
Whitfield said there is a complete system failure in the SA Police Service caused by poor management and weak leadership that is unable to maximise the available budget.
“It is not about the fleet being there but how well maintained the vehicles are. These workshops that are run by the police are very poorly managed. That is why you see 35% of the public order policing fleet is in the workshops and not on the road,” he said.
Whitfield said to fix the police force, there has to be increased visible policing, a good relationship between communities and the officers, and a change in crime intelligence.
Lamb also said police need to invest more resources in crime intelligence services if they want to intensify their battle against crime.
He said the police’s frequent employed strategy of deploying more police officers and vans to areas riddled with crime was reactive and not good enough.
“This is only temporary. It only stabilises the situation for so long. The only way police will be successful is if they are able to apprehend those behind the crimes that are committed in that particular area at that particular time,” said Lamb.
Alphina Ndlovana, chairperson of the Gauteng portfolio committee on community safety, said the committee raised the issue of slow conclusion of cases in its last meeting in June.
“We are planning to send a letter to the office of the provincial commissioner and MEC asking what will be done to ensure that more detectives are produced in the police,” Ndlovana said.
Head of justice and violence prevention at the Institute for Security Studies, Gareth Newham, said there should be an overhaul of crime intelligence.
“More experienced men and women need to be hired so that police can identify criminal networks. Police will never be proactive if they do not enhance crime intelligence. Crime intelligence will help police find who is committing the crime, where and how,” said Newham.
During their appearance before the parliamentary portfolio committee on policing in July last year, Cele and former police commissioner Kehla Sitole were at pains trying to explain why police were challenged in crime fighting.
They said their inability to act swiftly in preventing crime was compounded by cuts to the public purse which have seen the number of officers being reduced from 194,605 in 2016 to 182,126 in 2021 and was expected to drop to 162,999 by next year.
SAPS Maj-Gen Leon Rabie said due to the increasing population and reduced staff, the ratio stood at one officer to every 327 citizens. They also faced a problem with broken down vehicles in their fleet.
“There have been a growing number of police stations but the number of officers hasn’t grown. We still have a challenge of manning some of the police stations. We are working on scaling down on generals and increasing the number of constables so that we have more boots on the ground,” said Sitole at the time.
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