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South African can crime can still drop if properly managed.
This is a better way to manage crime in South Africa.
The crime stats (2013/2014) have been released today and it is shocking compare to the previous stats incidents of murder increased, attempted murder increased, street or public robberies increased, house robbery increased, sexual offence cases increased, residential burglary increased.
I am not going to consider the figures as they are not reliable because the stats are based only on reported figures.
The questions are:
1. Is there anything that can be done in order to combat crime?
2. What is the conviction rate?
3. What is the future of the country?
4. Did people actually lost morality?
5. Is the STATE doing the best to fight crime?
Allow me to answer the following questions
Yes, there is something that needs to be done to combat crime as to whether what it is you will learn as I try to answer all other questions.
The previous (2012/13) stats have shown that there is a decrease in serious crime in SA although the conviction rate was a concern. The Judges said one of the reasons was because of poor quality policing. The statements that the police are taking are so poor. You will agree with me I have observed that, even if you go and to them and ask for an affidavit trust me if you don`t read what is written there you might find yourself in jail.
Government have opened police colleges that is where these officers are trained, after that they allocated to Police stations and they do the real policing as students police, which is a great thing thumbs up. They are under supervision of people who never attended these colleges and like it or not they will be subjected to their commands whether is in line or out of line with what they learned in college. I think this should have been done in phases so that all police officers could have or understand the special training that their subordinates have gone through or they will never make it work. Nevertheless, after 5 years things have changed, the world is evolving. Do those officers still meet the standards or are they capable to perform what they have been trained for? I will leave that to you to answer. That is why in successful organization there is CPD (continuous professional development). The police service need to introduce CPD with a requirement that if you fail it or you no longer meet certain standard then your badge should be taken and you cease to be a officer of law. This CPD should include mental and physical evaluation.
An independent board should conduct performance appraisal remember their commanders can be bias. These people are trained to die for one another so are the commander cannot let down their colleagues in good and/ or in bad. I have observed that while I was working as volunteer there.
As the world evolve also the intelligence of people grows so are criminals. There is always a bad side in each and every good thing, that’s the law of universe which we are all subjected to and can`t change, all we need to do is recognize it and try by all means to find a way to deal with it. Just to give you an example if in your neighborhood there is a person who is a qualified nurse who stays in a one roomed house who works hard using a train everyday to go to work and there is a thug who has a huge house with double garage. A BMW and a Benz. Who is the role model to the kids of that neighborhood? You can answer that too. As parents is our responsibility to teach children on what is right and wrong, but we can`t decide for them as they can`t avoid education from street and peers no matter how hard we can try. The high crime rate means this is the generation we are raising teachers, police and nurses, doctors were role models before. You can do the Maths. If you can`t visit any township near you and listen to the conversation of 10 years old boys.
I will no go much further on morality as it is a topic on its own. What I will do is to share what I just experience recently. I was driving in London road that go to Alexandra and Sandton in the morning during the month of August when the car in front of me was hijacked. There was traffic around 8:00am; two boys aged between 18-22 years took a Polo Vivo. They made it seems to be so easy. They instruct the driver to step down, the one with a gun could not enter the car because the back door could not open then he has to run with foot whereas the other one was stuck in traffic no way to escape or speed up. No one made an attempt or try to stop him he drove so slowly until he took the turn, which took him 10 minutes while the poor white man still lost on the side of the road. Did people fear for their lives or is just that they did not care, that is a question that need to be answered.
In last question the answer is no, government is not doing the best, the state needs to make sure that we have police that are respected, honored and taken care of. Do you think the police can be able to arrest the criminals that they buy them beers because they can`t afford to buy one. Do you think these police could resist the money that they are offered by these criminal knowing that they will never make that money even if they could work for 10 years in that department? On top of that there is a need to revisit the code of ethics for police services; there are so many loopholes there. If there were none we would not be having this number of policemen that have criminal record working there. Truly speaking police have changed to be gang stars. They have lost morals; they take from poor and rich with no messy. I saw some picking up which fake movies that they need from a guy who was selling them in Diagonal Street without payment or fear.
There must be some strict and intensified justification given to investigating officers before they are allowed to close the case, they must then submit a valid and reasonable proof that really there is no sufficient evidence to continue with the case. When an officer is given a case there must be time frames to conclude the investigation so that it will not be filed for 10 years without any results or progress. That could also be used as a way of evaluating officer performance.
Officers of the law must be paid the amount that is worth risking their lives and an amount that would encourage them to their job with pride and integrity. They should not regret it after they refused a bribe because they know that when they reach home there will be no food to feed them. They should regain their respect in community. People should not call them Bomalambana( Poor people)
Appointment of commanders should be based on performance; continuous professional development, appraisals, general community surveys, personal developments, proof of leadership and management skills and not only in number of years and testimonial by commanders.
There are also so many valid points that one can add but my article was more based on leadership.
By Sivuyile Thanklord Crisboy Ncuthushe
