The South African Police Service were implementing corrective measures following a performance audit by the Auditor General [AG], the Department of Safety and Security said on Thursday.
Spokesperson Trevor Bloem said only an advance briefing on the audit was received from the Auditor General. The full report would be published by the Auditor General’s office next month.
The audit, conducted over two years between 2007 and 2008, focused on vehicle management, training, emergency call centres and bullet-proof vests.
Vehicle management was a concern to the AG but he noted that police were increasingly installing automated vehicle location (AVL) systems.
The systems resulted ”in accurate and real-time command and control of vehicles responding to emergencies as well as enhanced vehicle tracking and fleet management”.
”The AG pointed out that, where implemented, preliminary results indicated that AVL was largely achieving the desired outcomes.”
Police had installed the equipment in 24 546 vehicles.
The AG also looked at the ratio of officers to vehicles.
Police had 40 509 vehicles in March 2008 and had a ratio of 4,28 officers per vehicle.
However, due to shifts not all officers work at the same time and not all officers are operational at the same time and do not use the vehicles, thus improving the ratio.
The number of officers without driver’s licences was a source of concern but enlistment procedures for new recruits were amended and K53 training had been implemented to reduce this backlog.
The number of officers who had driver’s licences went up from 35 428 in March 2007 to 63 416 in January 2009, Bloem said.
The SAPS had 190 888 bullet-proof vests in November 2008 of which 29 520 had been specially designed for female police officers.
”The AG report was generally critical of most of the 10111 centres assessed regarding inadequate adherence to minimum service levels for reaction times to crimes,” Bloem said.
There was a deficiency of adequate, and functioning, equipment as well as inadequate contingency plans for centres to remain operational during systems damage or systems failure, the audit noted.
”Police management has since embarked upon upgrading switching centres, e.g. the Brixton switching centre earmarked in case of the Midrand centre crashing in Gauteng.”
Negotiations are under way between the police and Telkom to divert all 10111 calls to the nearest police station during a malfunction at 10111 centres.
Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa lauded the Safety and Security Parliamentary Portfolio Committee and the input of its members.
”This is a good example of how important it is that Parliament takes its oversight role seriously in the quest for improved service delivery for all communities in South Africa. We regard this as a positive development free of political brinkmanship. It can only further strengthen our resolve to fight the scourge of crime as government and Parliament collectively,” Mthethwa said.
Mthethwa was confident that SAPS’s top management would continue to rectify all the weaknesses identified in the audit, thereby contributing ”decisively to the enabling of safer communities for all”. – Sapa