Part 13 - Saps

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313 attacks investigated in the latter study was relatively small – only 77 cases were looked at. 12 Investigated cases referred to court Cases are referred to court by the police only after a suspect has been formally charged (and, in the case of a serious offence, arrested) by the police. In essence, cases are referred to court only if there is fairly substantial evidence against a suspect to warrant the person being charged with an offence. The number of cases referred to court, as a proportion of the total number of cases recorded by the police, differ between crime types. On average just under a quarter (24%) of all cases recorded by the police are referred to court. In the Eastern Cape and fourprovinces CIAC farm attack studies referred to above, respectively 47% and 23% of farm attack cases were referred to court. (As mentioned above, the latter figure may be somewhat unreliable because of the small sample on which it was based.) The overall ability of the police to refer cases to court is high in respect of crimes where the perpetrators are likely to be known to their victims, or those that are often committed in the presence of eyewitnesses. 13 An above average number of murder, rape, and assault cases are consequently referred to court. However, crimes where the perpetrators are likely to be unknown to their victims, such as burglary, robbery and vehicle theft are less likely to be solved by the police and referred to court. While the South African case referral rate appears to be low, it has been reported that the police in the United Kingdom also fail to clear up about three-quarters of all offences. 14 Evaluation and reasons for poor performance Personnel numbers In 1995, the newly amalgamated SAPS employed approximately 140,000 people (functional police officers and civilians). Thereafter many police officers resigned and left the service. Only a few new recruits were employed because of a hiring moratorium over much of this period. In January 2003 the SAPS was left with 129,700 employees, of which 27,300 were civilians and approximately 21,000 detectives. Between late 1996 and early 2003 the number of functional police officers (uniformed personnel and detectives) declined by 12%. Over a similar period, recorded serious violent crimes increased by some 21%, and less serious violent crimes by some 32%. 15 The medium-term expenditure framework for 2002/03–2005/06 provides for the appointment of an additional 30,200 entry-level police constables and 15,360 civilians over 12 See p 351.. 13 According to a 1997 Institute for Security Studies victims survey conducted in Johannesburg, the majority of assault, rape, and murder victims (or members of the victim’s household in the case of murder) knew the offender by name or by sight. See Louw A. et al Crime in Johannesburg. Results of a City Victim Survey (ISS Monograph Series 18, February 1998) p 23-24. 14 ‘Criminal Justice: Guilty as charged’ The Economist, 9 March 2002, p 40. 15 Serious violent crime: murder, attempted murder, rape, aggravated robbery, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. Less serious violent crime: common robbery and common assault.
314 a three-year period. The budget also provides for the replacement of posts which should become vacant over this period. By early 2006, the SAPS should have 155,260 employees. Moreover, because of stringent hiring requirements the average education level of police officers should be higher in 2006. In October 2002 there was an average of one functional police member for every 450 residents in South Africa. The ratio compares well with developing countries but poorly with many developed countries. For example, according to 1999 Interpol data, the number of residents per functional police officer were 225 in Portugal, 329 in Brazil, 492 in Namibia and 654 in Zimbabwe. Compared to more developed countries, South Africa's relatively low civilian to police officer ratio is exacerbated by a number of factors: • South Africa has a high crime rate, especially in respect of serious and violent crime. According to International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) statistics, South Africa has very high per capita rates of murder, rape, robbery and serious assault. Because of high levels of recorded crime, South Africa has a relatively low police officer to crime ratio. Thus, while South Africa has an average of only six police officers per recorded murder a year, Zambia has 12, Egypt has 93 and Malaysia 249. • There is a strong relationship between age and crime. South African conviction figures show that young males are considerably more at risk of being convicted for a wide range of crimes than older males, or females of any age group. 16 South Africa has a relatively youthful population. According to the 1996 national census a third of the South African population was under the age of 15 years, and 44% under the age of 20 years. • South Africa is geographically large with the result that police resources are thinly spread in the country's rural areas. For example, the Northern Cape has an average of one police officer for every 133 square kilometres. Nationally there is, on average, one police officer for every 12 square kilometres. • It is a worldwide phenomenon that crime rates are higher in cities than in rural areas, with the rate generally increasing according to city size. Population density, for example, is thought to be associated with crime, in that greater concentrations of people lead to competition for limited resources, greater stress and increased conflict. South Africa has a rapidly urbanising population. Rapidly expanding cities, and the unstructured terrain of the growing number of informal settlements, makes effective policing difficult. South Africa’s police personnel are not deployed equally across the country. 17 For example, while there were 450 residents for every functional officer in South Africa as a whole in late 2002, the provincial ratios ranged from 1: 746 in Limpopo to 1:326 in the Northern Cape. (See Figure 7.) Regarding farm attacks, it is interesting to note that Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal are usually among the top three provinces in respect of the highest number of recorded incidences. Purely from a farm attack perspective it is therefore unfortunate that these two provinces have one of the highest police officer to resident ratios (i.e. are significantly under-policed, even by South African standards). 16 Schönteich M. ‘The dangers of youth? Linking offenders, victims and age’ in Nedcor ISS Crime Index 3(5) (Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria 1999) p 22-28). 17 Schönteich M.‘The thin blue line: Police resources in the provinces’ in ISS Nedbank Crime Index 4(2) (Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, 2000) p 15-20.
Page 1 and 2: 308 CHAPTER 13 THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Page 3 and 4: 310 established that almost 43% res
Page 5: 312 officers. Moreover, while no sp
Page 9 and 10: 316 responsibilities. 20 The South
Page 11 and 12: 318 largely uncoordinated, which ha
Page 13 and 14: 320 road blocks or searching an are
Page 15 and 16: 322 Ideally, each sector should hav
Page 17 and 18: 324 organisations, in that it has s
Page 19 and 20: 326 areas since April 2000. Some 46
Page 21 and 22: 328 The Constitutional Court's ruli
Page 23 and 24: 330 There are no official statistic
Page 25 and 26: 332 Finally, it needs to be borne i

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