The National Treasury has slated the performance of the technology systems of the South African Police Services (SAPS), saying its projects have failed to improve crime solving levels in the country.
While the SAPS says the millions it has spent on modernising and expanding its IT systems will yield results soon, treasury claims the money spent by the services in the past year has not resulted in the improvements government expected.
Rendani Randela, public finance official in the National Treasury, says crime statistics for the 2008/9 financial year reveal the police are struggling to solve crime. He adds that, while R1.5 billion had been spent on technology in the past year, treasury is concerned that money allocated was not used optimally. Treasury reports the SAPS has spent a total of R4.5 billion on improving services this year alone.
“Criminals know they have little chance of being caught. Should they be arrested, they know the chances are even less that they'll eventually appear in court. And, should they appear in court, the chances are even less that they'll be found guilty," says Randela.
Police minister Nathi Mthethwa previously stated the SAPS would revitalise its policing systems through technology, as it attempts to reduce crime levels in the country. While the overall crime rate went up, reductions in specific areas indicate its systems are increasing their efficiency, says Mthethwa.
“We have focused on modernising and expanding our applications and equipment. Centralising information and improving our network infrastructure has been an ongoing objective over the last five years. Our current systems and our future implementations will improve our performance in the next few years. While the statistics were not satisfactory, there are signs of improvement and we will continue to improve,” says Stefan Schutte, divisional commissioner at the SAPS.
Skills issues
However, Randela notes that funding had so far not solved skilled staff shortages, increased resources or improved training for SAPS personnel.
Schutte says the “allocation of resources was conceptual rather than prescriptive”, and funds and staff were allocated to each station based on their needs.
“There have been some successes, despite challenges. The Crime Administration System has improved communication between the public and the SAPS. These are examples of some of the successes we want to build on in the future,” he says.
Wasteful expenditure
“Why is it that only two provinces [Gauteng and the Western Cape] had implemented monitoring systems for the AVL [automated vehicle location] solutions when a monthly fee was being paid for the entire system? This seems to be wasteful expenditure by the SAPS,” he notes.
The system involves the use of cameras and software to recognise a number plate, capture an image of the number plate and vehicle, and interpret the characters. The data is then validated against various databases and other systems in identifying suspect and circulated vehicles.
The SAPS says 22 000 vehicles are fitted with the system and that monitoring systems would be implemented to prevent and detect abuse.
“Abuse has occurred, but the SAPS is committed to implementing the monitoring of AVL systems,” says Schutte.
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