New police strategy questioned
QUESTIONS over the efficiency of the police’s new Back to Basics campaign have been raised, with a report calling for more information to be released.
The report – “The Back to Basics approach failed to show more policeable crime reductions so far” – calls for the new approach to policing to be reviewed.
It compares national crime figures during several police commissioners’ tenures and finds that former police commissioner Bheki Cele was South Africa’s most effective police boss, based on a large drop in the figures in several crime categories while he was in charge.
Former police Crime Information Analysis Centre (Ciac) head, crime analyst Dr Chris de Kock, released the report which aimed to pinpoint effective policing strategies under the various commissioners’ leadership.
The report shows that the new policing structure has not yet shown a drop in violent crime levels.
De Kock said the Back to Basics approach implemented by acting national commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane needed to be reviewed urgently.
Comparisons between past police bosses revealed that crime levels declined the most during the Cele era, possibly due to his shoot-to-kill and zero-tolerance policies.
Cele is now the Forestry and Fisheries deputy minister.
He was succeeded by now-suspended Riah Phiyega, whose role in the massacre of 34 striking mineworkers in Marikana in August 2012 was investigated by a commission of inquiry.
The late Jackie Selebi preceded Cele as national commissioner.
The report analyses national crime levels between April 1 last year and December 31, but says more information is needed to determine the effectiveness of Phahlane’s approach.
Some of the latest data was retrieved from reports submitted to the police portfolio committee this month.
The report also questions why some categories – mostly house and business robberies, as well as hijackings – had not been released to the public, whether “unintentionally or intentionally”, making it impossible to reach a final conclusion. It questions why these categories were “filtered out” to the portfolio committee.
“There can be no other conclusion after this analysis that 17 months of the application of the Back to Basics approach did not deliver clear, more policeable crime reductions,” De Kock said.
“The most devastating crime trends in terms of life, limb and trauma, namely public, street robbery, house robbery, business robbery and carjacking are marching on.”
He said, however, that an increase in quarterly reductions could also mean that Back to Basics approach was starting to pay off.
National police spokeswoman Brigadier Sally de Beer said they would remain focused on this approach, which was yielding positive results. She declined to say, however, why police had failed to release the stats for specific categories of crime.
“The department is not going to be drawn into responding to questions that seek to undermine commendable progress made in the fight against crime in pursuance of our vision of ensuring that all people in South Africa are and feel safe,” she said.