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19 January 2002 The Independent Complaints Directorate wishes to inform that during the period 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 it received a total of 3348 cases, of which 2659 were public complaints and 689 were notifications of deaths in police custody or as a result of police action. Compared to the same period in 2000, the number of cases received was 2483, of which 491 were notifications of deaths in police custody or as a result of police action while public complaints numbered 1992. We are deeply concerned about police brutality and femicide perpetrated by police officers. Police brutality comprises of assault GBH, attempted murder, assault and torture. In this category we include incidents of racist brutality, xenophobic brutality and the setting of police dogs on civilians. Femicide cases involves police officers killing their wives/partners. It is important to emphasise that femicide committed by police officers is on the increase and this is definitely an unacceptable trend currently. The ICD has repeatedly called for police management to intervene and ensure that service firearms are managed after hours, since in all the cases we have thus far investigated, spouses, partners, family members and children have been killed by the service firearms of police officers. During the period 1 January 2001 to 3 December 2001 we received a total of 420 police brutality cases, of which 294 were assault/attempted murder, 68 torture and 58 assault cases. The 68 torture cases for the past said period indicates an increase as compared to the year 2000 in which we registered 16 cases. 294 assault/attempted murder cases also represents an increase as compared to 247 in the previous year. In must be mentioned that we project a further increase up until the end of March 2002. The cases that reflect an element of police brutality and femicide are as follows: 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2000
1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001
We also note with concern the fact that service-related complaints continue to increase. These are complaints about failure by the SAPS members to provide a service or being negligent in performing their duties. This problem continues unabated notwithstanding the fact that during 2000, we made comprehensive recommendations to the police on how to address this problem. So far a total of 3348 complaints have been recorded nationwide. 1326 were recorded in Gauteng, 514 in Western Cape and 459 in Eastern Cape. The Free State Province and Kwazulu Natal recorded 84 and 164 complaints respectively. The breakdown of notifications of deaths in police custody during 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 is as follows:
The largest number of notifications of deaths in custody or as a result of police action during the above mentioned period was recorded in Eastern Cape (186), followed by Gauteng (142) with the Northern Cape recording the lowest number (14). In the category of serious criminal offences committed by members of the SAPS such as assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm or attempted murder, corruption, theft, abuse of power, torture, malicious damage to property, etc, the Gauteng Province recorded 117 followed by Eastern Cape (106), Western Cape (79) with the Free State recording the lowest (15). During the financial year 2000/2001 a total of (456) cases were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for a decision on prosecution, of those cases (206) are pending, (79) to be prosecuted while the DPP declined to prosecute in (46) cases. Inquests were held in (125) cases. The total number of completed cases was (1786), only (373) were substantiated, (643) unsubstantiated, (610) dismissed, (62) withdrawn while (98) were mediated. The ICD is mandated to investigate all deaths in police custody or as result of police action. In every case of death, a preliminary investigation is conducted to determine whether there are any indications of criminal conduct by the police. Where there are indications of criminal conduct by the police, the department will conduct a full investigation. Where there are no indications of criminal conduct by the police, the matter will be left to the police themselves to investigate while the ICD monitors/supervises the investigation. If information is subsequently received indicating that there was criminal conduct on the part of the police, the department would take the matter over from the police and conduct a full investigation. The average expenditure to complete an investigation of death in custody or as a result of police action over an average period of 75 hours and average distance of 1000 km in the Western Cape or KwaZulu Natal, is approximately R 9 500. This calculation of expenditure is made up by the cost of distances travelled in attending to crime scenes, obtaining statements from witness, distributing subpoenas for Court attendance, attending Court hearings and collecting witnesses. The same case could cost us more than R12 000, in provinces such as the Northern Cape which is geographically more vast. Repeated postponement of court cases can also increase this amount dramatically in terms of many hours worked and kilometers travelled, since investigators have to attend at Court each day a matter is set down for trial. The ICD can only make recommendations to the SAPS management to suspend suspect police officers. The SAPS management has a discretion on whether or not to implement our recommendations. Our recommendations are generally that disciplinary steps be taken. The nature of disciplinary steps taken is within the discretion of the SAPS management. It could be dismissal, a verbal or written warning or counselling. We do not normally recommend specific disciplinary steps to be taken, but we do recommend under Regulation/s a member should be charged. The
average rank of the majority of police officers investigated by the ICD is Sergeant.
In most of the cases the charges are contravention of the Police Regulations followed
by common assault and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Steve
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