Push for SAPS, metro cops to merge
THE DAYS of the metro police operating as independent police departments accountable to municipal authorities may be numbered, as the ANC is set to endorse their absorption into the SAPS.
Their duties, among them traffic law and by-law enforcement, would be widened to give them investigative powers and the same level of training as SAPS members. If implemented, it would likely see the metro police adopting the same military ranks as the SAPS. Metro police chiefs, who are accountable to municipal councils and authorities, would have to report to the national police commissioner, even though municipalities would still be afforded the powers of appointing the police chief in consultation with the deputy police commissioner. This would also see mayoral committee members (MMCs) responsible for community safety relinquish their oversight of metro police departments.
The proposal is on the agenda of the ruling party’s upcoming national general council (NGC) set for October under the discussion on the need for a single police service.
The ANC will use the NGC to review policy and assess its performance since the election of the current leadership in 2012.
This proposal, emphasised for the implementation at the ANC national conference in 2012, is gaining momentum and is included in the draft white paper on policing, which has been released by the Police Ministry for public comment.
“The objective for a single police service is to maximise effective policing in South Africa,” notes the NGC discussion document.
“This resolution is in a process of being realised.”
The draft policy on policing, released for comment by the minister earlier this year, is more explicit about the role the metro police would play under the proposed establishment of a single police service.
It raises concerns that the available resources don’t permit the huge duplication of functions and that where policing forces are fragmented, the standard of training and other support services are likely to diminish.
It also emphasises the importance of spreading their scope into the investigation of crimes related to tender irregu- larities and municipal assets.
But the proposal is set to face a legal challenge from the DA, which is the only other political party that has political control of any police service as it governs Cape Town.
MMC for safety and security in the City of Cape Town, Jean-Pierre Smith, described the proposal as a move to centralise policing and ensure nobody else had control over any form of policing except an ANC-appointed police commissioner and minister of police.
“We made strong submissions on the green paper and the white papers on this issue and they have gone largely ignored,” he said. “We have made it clear this is a matter we will take to the Constitutional Court because there is much evidence that metro police offer much value to policing in the current structure.”