Howard Barrell
You may have heard the story. It goes like this: the police have an unfortunate history which has left them, among other things, short of the skills they need to do their job; so the public doesn’t trust them; so the police don’t get the information they need for their investigations; so the police can’t solve crimes; so the public becomes more critical of them; so the police not only fail to solve crimes, they also become demoralised; so the public loses even more confidence in them; so tensions develop between the police and public. And things fall apart.
This vicious circle gives opposition parties many opportunities to heap scorn on the government’s attempts to maintain law and order. At election time it is just that much more tempting to do so. Why? Because criminals tend to be indiscriminate about who they victimise; and this makes law and order an issue on which parties can hope to broaden their support’s social base.
Given that South Africa has what is thought to be the second-highest murder rate in the world, and very high rates of rape, armed robbery and property crime, it should not be difficult for opposition parties to do so.
They are certainly trying. Most opposition parties have made crime their major issue. “Hang murderers and rapists!” demands the New National Party poster. “Fight back!” shouts the Democratic Party. Stop letting prisoners watch television, demands the African Christian Democratic Party. Cut off criminals’ limbs, says the Pan Africanist Congress.
Yet there is no sign that all this clamour has made even a dent in support for the ruling African National Congress. Crime is an issue on which the ANC clearly has not delivered. Yet it is not suffering for that failure. Why?
Examine the statements and actions of the ANC and the government and it is clear they are as appalled as any other groups at crime levels. The ANC, too, is telling people to fight back. And a number of its representatives (in private) and supporters (in public) confess they wouldn’t mind seeing a few once light-fingered or heavy-handed lumpens walking around without arms or legs.
Moreover, the government has brought into government one of the country’s best managers, Meyer Kahn of South African Breweries, to reshape the police force. And in Bulelani Ngcuka, a former ANC MP, the government has appointed someone who has brought passion to prosecuting criminals – a passion he has communicated to others.
Strip away the electioneering, and there is not much that divides the parties on crime. In among the usual electoral point-scoring in their manifestos, all have put forward serious proposals on how best to fight it. Scratch a little and most parties agree that issues such as tightening up bail laws, restoring the death penalty and having tougher prison regimes are secondary. The main challenge is developing effective policing and an efficient criminal justice system. It has not escaped the attention of the most vociferous hangers and floggers that if capital punishment does deter people from murdering others, it can be a deterrent only if potential murderers’ anticipate they will be caught and convicted.
This common ground prompts Peter Gastrow, a former MP and adviser to Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi who now heads the Institute of Security Studies in Cape Town, to suggest that the government launch a cross-party anti-crime effort after the elections.
“One could then, among other things, test the various parties’ seriousness on the issue,” Gastrow says. “We must get rid of the self- righteousness which exists in some communities, where they hold the government and police alone responsible for stopping crime. As individuals, communities, businesses, we must all help our police – with resources where we can, with our skills if possible, and certainly in the course of police investigations. Co-operation is improving. But we have some way to go.”
The same quest drove DP MP James Selfe to don a bulletproof vest and work an eight-hour night shift last week at the Claremont police station in Cape Town, the armoury of which was raided at gunpoint by suspected religious militants a few months ago. “It’s important for the community to understand what the police put up with and for the police to understand what the community expects of them,” says Selfe.
The police station serves 60 000 people and major commercial centres in an area that is geographically bigger than Manhattan. Yet on Selfe’s shift there were only six police officers and three reservists. Two officers remained at the station, the other four operated two patrol cars, and the reservists drove a third vehicle provided by the community. The shift was a continuum of car thefts, assaults and drunkenness, as well as one instance of taking to hospital a man with a 10cm gash in his neck apparently caused by the stiletto heel of the transvestite he had tried to pick up.
“Claremont is a relatively well-resourced police station,” says Selfe. “Try Belville South or one of the stations in outlying townships. They are frighteningly ill- equipped.” He says Claremont needs four times the present staffing levels.
The station building is a tatty reminder of the time when policing was all force and no service. While I was there, a dozen automatic weapons were wheeled through the charge office in, of all things, a squeaky Woolworths shopping trolley.
Police salaries are no longer the demoralising factor they were. But still, who would spend 13 years in the police force, believing on each 12-hour night shift they had only an 80% chance of making it home safely, on take-home pay of R2 300 a month?
Yet security boffs say morale in the service has stabilised – as have many of the crime figures. Surveys show the public is reporting more sympathetic treatment by police, even if they are not as professional as they need to be. Management problems, which have often meant inefficient use of resources, are being addressed.
It is hoped natural attrition will rid the service of about 5 000 officers, whose salaries will then be used to finance better resources for the 121 000 remaining officers. With better resources and optimal deployment, Kahn believes the remaining police could provide a superior service.
Azhar Cachalia, head of the safety and security secretariat, is instituting an integrated approach to policing. Under it, policy and priorities are civilian dictates, while the police command oversees operational implementation.
In Gastrow’s view, one missing link now is a minister of safety and security who can communicate this progress to the public and drive them into greater involvement with the service – someone who can be enthusiastic in praise of police successes and give them hell when they mess up. Who might that be?