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Parliament, Friday, 12 October 2018 – The Portfolio Committee on Police
is of the view that police visibility in communities and effective
community policing should be intensified.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mr Francois
Beukman, was commenting following the release of the Victims of Crime
Survey by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The survey shows that crime
is on the increase, with an estimated 1.24 million households experiencing crime over the period.
“The finding that housebreaking and burglary is the most prevalent crime affecting
South Africans necessitates the Saps [South African Police Service] to intensify
the visibility of police units throughout the country. Regular police patrols, more
roadblocks in hotspot areas, efficient sector policing, increased cooperation with
community patrollers and Community Police Forums, private security companies and
neighbourhood watches is key in finding long-term solutions,” Mr Beukman said.
Community policing must be underpinned by better response times from police
units to crime reporting and crime incidents. Detection rates for various crime
categories are still too low and the Detective Services division should ramp
up their efforts to deal with current deficiencies.
The portfolio committee is very concerned with the drop in public satisfaction
with the police to 54.2 percent for the 2017/18 financial year.
Mr Beukman said national police management should ensure that cluster and station
commanders increase efforts to deal with priority and contact crimes in their
respective jurisdictions. Tactical deployment and preventative operations of
Saps members should focus on deterrence and building community trust.
National police management indicated in Parliament this week that filling all
vacant posts at stations will be prioritised.
The Portfolio Committee on Police will invite Stats SA to brief the committee
on the survey in a fortnight.
Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson
of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mr Francois Beukman
Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mr Francois Beukman
Name: Malatswa Molepo (Mr)
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8438
Cell: 081 512 7920
E-mail: mmolepo@parliament.gov.za
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