Police stations not complying with act

SEVERAL police stations across the country have failed to comply with the Domestic Violence Act, according to a report by the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service.

The police secretariat, which tabled the report in parliament last week, warned that police officers and station commanders who failed to comply could face both internal and criminal investigation.

The secretariat monitors the compliance and implementation of the act by police officials and police stations across the country.

“Even though reporting by all police stations on a monthly basis is compulsory, they still do not provide accurate information on their monthly returns to provincial office,” the report stated.

The Domestic Violence Act (DVA) aims to “protect victims as far as possible” and imposes strict compliance measures for police officials to ensure that any victim of domestic violence remains safe.

Of the 156 police stations across the country audited between April and September last year, only Brooklyn Police Station in Gauteng received an audit of 100% compliance, while a further 135 attained partial compliance status and 20 failed.

During the audit, 151 noncompliance cases against police officers were reported, of which only 56 saw disciplinary action taken. “This clearly indicates lack of commitment by the station commanders to deal with members who fail to comply with the DVA prescripts,” the report read.

It shows that only 18 police stations in the Eastern Cape were audited, of which 17 rated partial compliance while one, Gonubie Police Station in East London, failed the audit outright.

In the province, Port St Johns and Port Elizabeth’s Gelvandale police stations attained 99% partial compliance status while Queenstown, Graaff-Reinet and Aliwal North attained a 92% compliance. All the others audited attained below 90%.