Consistency needed to fight crime

ANY attempt to reduce rampant crime and make our province safer must be welcomed.

This includes the recent report that more than 9 000 people were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal during multidisciplinary SAPS operations last month.

According to the SAPS, nearly 200 individuals were arrested for murder and 259 for rape.

What is critical is consistency. There cannot be a situation where the SAPS, following pressure from communities, stakeholders and politicians, go out and arrest thousands of suspects, only for them to be back out on the street the next month. They must be brought to book.

This means that the ongoing issue of DNA backlogs in our province must be addressed. In June last year, a written parliamentary reply to questions posed by the DA in KZN revealed that the province had a staggering DNA forensics backlog of 8 388 dating from as far back as February 2020.

Meanwhile, a statement by Statistics SA last month exposed that there is a country-wide backlog of 200 000 cases. This is far from ideal and must be addressed by the SAPS as a matter of extreme urgency. Victims of crime can no longer be so severely disadvantaged. It is also time to ensure the SAPS is equipped with:

♦ The necessary resources, including manpower and working vehicles to allow them to be on the streets arresting criminals.

♦ Properly trained officers, including investigators and detectives, to ensure that criminals are placed behind bars.

♦ More female officers to deal with and attend to domestic violence and rape cases.

♦ More specialist units to concentrate on key priority crimes.

The DA urges communities to assist the SAPS in the fight against spiralling crime, by being their eyes and ears on the ground. Crime is everyone’s business.

SHARON HOOSEN | DA KZN spokesperson on Community Safety and Liaison