Single police force not on

THE letter on December 14 from Mr Arendse “Metro cops can gear up against gangsters” has reference.

Yes, Section 199(1) of the constitution does provide for a “single police service”. However, if Mr Arendse were to continue reading the constitution, he would note section 206(7) which specifically provides for the establishment of Municipal Police Services, which means the metro police is part and parcel of a democratic South Africa. Reading these two sections together, it is plainly obvious that the drafters of our constitution intended for a single nationally-run police service AND locally run municipal police services.

It is not true to say that the DA is the only party in opposition to the ANC’s plan to amalgamate the metro police into the SAPS. The National Assembly’s own document analysing the Green Paper which proposes merging of municipal police and SAPS noted that, “it is clear that a legal mind was not applied on other constitutional provisions that create space for the establishment of metro police”.

Parliament further notes these proposals were “contrary to a dominant strand of thinking in the policing discourse that view metro police as augmenting the policing architecture and/or security apparatus…”

If this policy – an ANC 2007 Polokwane conference resolution – were such a brilliant idea, why has Mr Arendse’s party spent the past 10 years vacillating on it? Probably because an amalgamation will mean less localised responses to crime prevention and it will negatively affect service priorities.