Poor shooting competency haunts Boksburg North SAPS – DA
The DA was shocked to discover that 77 of 137 Boksburg North police officers have failed the tests which assess their shooting competency.
DA members Mike Waters MP (DA Lethabong constituency head), Benno Robinson (Ward 22 councillor), Ruhan Robinson (Ward 22 candidate), and Simon Lapping (Ward 17 candidate) paid an oversight visit to the Boksburg North Police Station, on May 9.
“This means that 56 per cent of all Boksburg North police officers cannot carry a firearm and should be placed on administrative duty while they are being re-assessed,” said Waters.
“This has serious consequences for the ability of the police to provide services to the public. When people’s lives are at stake and crime levels remain unacceptably high, it is crucial to have a well-trained and capable police force.”
Waters will be taking this “unacceptable situation” to Parliament and will ask the Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, what he intends to do about the situation.
“Another point of concern is that the visible policing sector is severely understaffed,” he said.
“Currently, there are four sectors within the precinct of the Boksburg North Police Station and each precinct should have two vehicles patrolling at any given time, with two police officers in each vehicles.
“This would mean that the station would need a total of 40 visible police officers.
“The reality is that visible policing at the station is serviced by only three vehicles, instead of eight. A fourth vehicle has been out of commission for months as the key no longer works,” said Waters.
“As far as visible policing is concerned, the station has only 24 police officers, resulting in a shortage of visible policing by 40 per cent.”
Waters said given the importance of visible policing in reducing crime, as it acts as a deterrent to would-be criminals, the DA has launched an online petition calling for the Minister of Police to increase the number of visible police at the Boksburg North Police Station.
Residents wanting to support this narrative can go to https://pettions24.com/boksburgnorth_visible_saps and sign the petition online.
Waters will be handing the petition in to Parliament, where the Portfolio Committee on Police will call SAPS top brass to answer for the lack of visible policing.
According to him, in addition to a lack of visible police officers and the high failure rate of the shooting competency test, the high number of cases detectives are carrying is also of concern.
“There are 41 detective at the station, four of whom are officers who do not do any detective work. The remaining 37 detective currently have 18 752 cases on hand resulting in an average case load of 506 cases per detective,” explained Waters.
“This is simply inhumane. By expecting any person to investigate so many cases you are simply setting them up for failure; in addition you are giving false hope to victims that their cases are actually being investigated.”
In addition, in reply to a question Waters asked of the Minister of Police last year, the recommended average case load per investigating officer it seems is between 40 and 45 case dockets.
“This means that detectives at the Boksburg North Police Station are carrying 1 124 per cent more dockets than the recommended average, or the Minister needs to appoint an additional 379 detective to the station,” said Waters.
He will also be taking up this matter in Parliament, with the Minister of Police.
The DA would like to thank all the hard working police officers who, under severe circumstances, are trying to provide a high quality service to the public.
