Any police officer who is found guilty of colluding with criminals, involved in assault, murder, rape, attempted rape and sexual assault deserves to rot in jail and the key thrown away, Miister of Police Nathi Mthethwa says. In fact, the punishment of such “criminals in blue uniform” should be the harshest than normal criminals, he adds.
Mthethwa was commenting in a statement with reference to a written Parliamentary reply on how many cases of assault, murder, rape, attempted rape and sexual assault have been filed against members of the SAPS since January 1, 2009. He stated that the numbers of cases were as follows:
· Assault – 516
· Murder – 50
· Rape – 94
· Attempted Rape – 7
· Sexual Assault – 71
In total, 768 cases were filed against these members for the financial years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011. In an organisation that has almost 200 000 police officers, “it is increasingly worrying and unacceptable that those who are entrusted with protecting the vulnerable and weak, end up traumatising and abusing people,” the statement says.
“These statistics are appalling and disgusting to say the least,” Mthethwa adds. “We do not think the figures are new but what is new is our concerted effort in rooting out such criminality. We are looking at each case, monitoring the progress and have been assured by management that internal disciplinary actions have been taken in most of these.
“To be able to wear the blue uniform must be a privilege for any police officer. It is therefore a sad picture to see police officers trading their blue uniforms for the orange ones. We shall continue to investigate, prosecute, convict and dismiss such corrupt cops as soon as they are identified or reported,” said the minister.
“If I were given a chance to preside over such cases, I would impose the heaviest sentences to any police officer who stands accused and is found guilty of these heinous crimes because in the main, these are no ordinary criminals. These are people who went through our training, were taught the principles of respecting and upholding each letter of the Constitution and in addition they are committing such crimes, while in full uniform and utilising our resources,” he added.
Mthethwa said that even if the total figure was 1% of the total of 200 000 membership, he would still advocate for these harsher sentences. “Such corrupt criminals not only tarnish the name of the hard-working and good cops we have; but such acts create mistrusts between the police and the communities they are supposed to serve. That is why we have always advocated and made a clarion to society to help us apprehend such officers.”
Some of the preventative and remedial steps in dealing with such criminality include: the ministry has now put tasked SAPS management to monitor the behaviour of members at police stations. “We want to ensure that in cases where a police officer is suspected of committing such crimes, that such a case is investigated by [the] Independent Complaints Directorate. This approach will go a long way in building public confidence in the police while at the same time, re-enforcing government’s commitment to ensure the most vulnerable in society, are not abused by the very people who should protect them.
The ministry is further cooperating with the other Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster ministries with an objective of ensuring harsher punishments for such police. Internally, the SAPS is also strengthening its policies on members who are found guilty of any crime, by looking at the HR policies around salaries, pensions, medical fund and with a view of blacklisting them for any future government employment, the statement adds.
The ministry will continue with its public participation programmes with all sectors of society in order to help in identifying such tsotsi-cops and ensure they are apprehended. “We want to urge members of society to continue blowing the whistle against any such corrupt cops because without such exposure, they will continue to torment society without being busted,” concluded the minister.
Dianne Kohler Barnard, Mthethwa’s opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party, said in a sttement in reaction she was “deeply concerned”. She adds the worrying trend in the numbers “is that violent crimes by police officers are increasing in frequency. Assault charges against SAPS officers jumped from 199 in 2009/10 to 317 in 2010/2011 and the total number of the above crimes filed against police increased by 136 cases from 2009/10 to 2010/11. The DA believes this increase in violent crimes needs to be urgently addressed. I will be requesting that the Minister appear before the Police Portfolio Committee to explain why these numbers are increasing so drastically, and what action SAPS will be taking in this regard.”
