As crime levels in Cape Town become untenable, the need to devolve certain national policing powers to the City’s metro police has become more urgent that ever before.
Having not had any meaningful reply on this topic from the National Police Commissioner in a previous letter from Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, the City last week said that its safety and security portfolio committee will now table a resolution at the next council meeting calling on the national government to devolve certain policing powers to the City in terms of the intergovernmental dispute framework.
These legislative powers would include investigative authority over specific crime categories such as gang-related violence, firearm offences, extortion, and drug trafficking. Additionally, the responsibility for crime intelligence should be devolved to the City, and the City should also be assigned the function of managing forensic laboratory testing centres related to firearms.
“This means our officers will be able to investigate criminal cases. When a crime is committed they will open/file a case docket and present it to the National Prosecuting Authority for prosecution and present the evidence in court with the prosecutor in front of a presiding judge or magistrate,” chair of the safety and security portfolio committee, Mzwakhe Nqvashe, told TygerBurger.
“Currently we do not have access to crime intelligence data. We are not shown by the South African Police Service where crime is likely to happen the next day or weekend. What we get to see with everyone else is the unhelpful three-months-old quarterly crime stats which tells us what has already happened. Contrary to this, we want to know through crime intelligence what criminals are planning to do in future so that we can prevent, disrupt and arrest perpetrators especial in the category of gang violence, murder and extortion.”
Court delays
Insofar as ballistic testing by metro police goes, Nqvashe said laboratory evidence would be admissible as evidence in court as it is currently happening.
“The problem currently is national government is unable to run these labs optimally and efficiently. It is known that labs have a backlog on cases like firearm ballistics and DNA tests, with waiting periods of six months and more.
He explains that these delays cause criminal cases to be struck off the court roll for further investigation.
“The term ‘further investigation’ is in most cases a general term which describes that the detective investigating the case cannot proceed in court pending laboratory results on all crucial evidence submitted to court in the case docket.”
Nqavashe believes that metro police obtaining these legislative powers will enhance the City’s capability to assist the under-resourced police with investigations and intelligence to improve gang-related convictions.
“Our communities are plagued by crime at all levels and it is clear that more is needed from the police and the City. Recently, we highlighted that the City has removed nearly 2 000 illegal firearms from the streets, yet the conviction rate is not keeping pace. The police do not have the manpower and the City’s uniformed staff do not have the power to undertake investigations into firearm confiscations, and other crimes,” he says.
He emphasises that in recent years the City has established specialised units such as the metro police gang and drug task team, increased visible policing through the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP), and invested in advanced technology including CCTV, gunshot detection systems, drones, and more.
“Yet the situation remains untenable,” he states. “Our residents continue to live in fear, children are unable to play safely outdoors, and criminals still control our streets.”
