Untitled - Saps

More documents

Recommendations

Info

• Various safety networks were implemented, including an international safety network involving Interpol to fight international crimes such as fraud, counterfeit currency, gun smuggling and narcotics-related crime; a southern African safety network involving the police services of South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland; and a border safety network in South Africa aimed at preventing cross-border criminal activity. • In an attempt to combat vehicle crime, the SAPS and the Tracker Network launched a nationwide vehicle recovery system in Johannesburg on 1 October 1996. The system consisted of a small transponder hidden in a vehicle and a police tracking unit fitted into SAPS patrol cars, aircraft and strategic locations such as the 48 border posts and ports. The entire network was set up at no cost to the SAPS. • On 14 November 1996, the United Nations Drug Control Programme and the SAPS launched an anti-narcotics project to stem drug trafficking from other African countries into South Africa. Under the project, trained narcotics dogs would be sent to central and eastern African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana and Zambia. 29 • A new police unit aimed at curbing the smuggling trade was deployed in South Africa on 18 November 1996. The unit, known as the Border Unit, was deployed at the international airports of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg and at border posts and ports. • The Swedish Government, through its international Development Agency, donated R1,5 million towards the training of SAPS members in human rights. The project formed part of an information programme for SAPS legal adviSgt and trainers from the nine provinces who formed an integral part of the service’s human resources development plan. Some R240 million was set aside to upgrade 65 police stations in 1996 • Various initiatives against crime were launched in the course of 1996. Business Against Crime was launched in certain provinces under the umbrella of Business South Africa. Business Against Crime funded an e-mail facility linking the police chiefs of 22 southern African countries. • In November 1996, the SAPS introduced a new credit-card-size identity card for its members. The new card was easier to carry than the old identity cards, more difficult to forge and bore the new police logo. New uniforms were also phased in. A small transponder installed in a SAPS vehicle to help combat vehicle crime
1997 10 Years of Policing in a Democracy 1995 – 2005 30 • In order to extend the National Crime Prevention Strategy to needs-driven provincial and local initiatives, nine provincial crime summits were held in 1997. These summits led to the adoption of a number of primary crime-prevention programmes. At the beginning of 1997, the NCPS Committee of Ministers identified a number of projects to be carried out by the participating departments. The largest of the projects was the Integrated Justice System (IJS). The aim of the project was to streamline the judicial process and to support it with the Information Management System so that offenders could be effectively managed and tracked through the entire criminal justice system. • Furthermore, several interdisciplinary and intersectorial task team projects were launched regarding firearm control, border control, vehicle crime, violence and crimes against women and children, including domestic violence, corruption in the criminal justice system and escapes from custody. • In April 1997, the then President, Nelson Mandela, announced that the government had launched a series of high-density crime-prevention operations to fight crime. The operations involved the SAPS, the SANDF and the intelligence services. The primary objective of the operations was to crack down on illegal firearms and organized crime. • In May 1997, more than 1 500 stolen South African vehicles were recovered in an anticrime operation spanning four southern African countries. Operation V4 involved police members from South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia and was sponsored by the Kingdom of Belgium. • In May 1997, the moratorium on police recruitment, imposed by the government in 1994, was lifted. It was also announced that an extra 5 250 police officials and civilian employees would be appointed in line with the new approach to recruitment. • A team of senior British police officers arrived in South Africa at the end of June. They worked closely with the Department of Safety and Security and the SAPS to review existing systems of management, training, evaluation and monitoring. At the end of July 1997, a task team appointed by the Minister proposed that the government consider decentralizing certain police functions to the provinces. • In June 1997, the Minister for Safety and Security revealed that the SAPS was involved in major anti-crime operations in cooperation with the Mozambican police. The operations were aimed at stemming the tide of illegal firearms entering the country, as well as crossborder vehicle theft. Earlier in the year, a joint operation by the two countries had led to the destruction of a big arms cache near Xai-Xai in Mozambique. In July and August, thousands of weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition were located and destroyed during a joint operation between the South African and Mozambican police. • At the end of October 1997, the newly adopted Code of Conduct, which had been extended to all members to create a safe and secure environment for all South Africans in a democratic framework, was signed for the first time. • The 1997/1998 Annual Police Plan identified five policing priorities and six organizational focus areas to improve service delivery and the utilization of resources to combat and prevent crime more effectively. The focus areas were the quality of investigative services, victim empowerment, budget and resource management, performance appraisal and service monitoring, affirmative training and communication. The policing priorities were firearms, criminal organizations, crimes against women and children, corruption in the criminal justice system and crime prevention. • In August 1997, the United States government sent representatives of four federal law enforcement agencies to South Africa to cooperate in the fight against international crime syndicates and to assist with local training programmes. The agents concerned were attached to the US embassy in Pretoria and represented the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. • In October 1997, the Rural Protection Plan (RPP), aimed at protecting farmers, was launched. The RPP involved the National Defence Force, police Rests, special police units and the intelligence services. • In order to streamline a number of projects in the SAPS, management decided to amalgamate all service delivery projects into the Service Delivery and Improvement Programme (SDIP). The main aim of SDIP was to create pockets of excellence in
Page 1 and 2: 22 1995 - 2005 TEN YEAR POLICING IN
Page 3 and 4: 1994/1995 10 Years of Policing in a
Page 5 and 6: 1995 10 Years of Policing in a Demo
Page 7: 1996 10 Years of Policing in a Demo

Untitled - Saps

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?