More cops beating up lovers

The number of police officers accused of domestic violence has increased by 25% in a year, according to the Civilian Secretariat of Police in a briefing of parliament's portfolio committee on the police yesterday.

This was based on visits to 145 of the country’s over 1000 police stations between October 2013 and March 2014.

The secretariat noted that the number of domestic violence perpetrators within the South African Police Service was a “serious concern”. The visits revealed that:

• 74 SAPS’s members were reported as domestic violence offenders – up from 59 in the previous year.

• Out of the 74 reported abusers, only 40 criminal cases were opened. In addition, only 40 of the accused had their firearms seized.

Committee member Dianne Kohler Barnard said that if the figure presented by the secretariat was extrapolated to all police stations, about 2,300 police officers were “potential abusers”.

A report compiled by the parliamentary committee’s research unit highlighted a number of instances in which police officers had shot their spouses, lovers and other family members.

In one instance, a North West a police officer shot and wounded his wife before killing himself while his wife was en route to a police station to lay a domestic violence charge against him. He fired seven bullets at her car.

Nongovernmental organisations that deal with domestic violence victims confirmed receiving many cases where police officers were reported as perpetrators.

Palesa Mpapa, legal adviser at People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA), said police officers could “abuse the system” because of their position in the criminal justice system.

“[Police officers] cover up for each other, especially when they work at the police station that is close to where their partner will report [the domestic violence],” said Mpapa.

Kerryn Rehse, programme manager at nonprofit organisation Mosaic, which aims to prevent and reduce domestic violence, said police officers could get “favours pulled to make the matter go away,” adding that this extends to other police stations and not just the ones where they are based.

And while some police officers are offenders, others have been accused of exposing domestic violence victims to secondary victimisation.

Often victims gets turned away because officers believe that domestic violence is a “private matter” or a “family matter”, according to director of Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, Nondumiso Nsibande.

“These negative attitudes … discourage survivors reporting domestic violence,” Nsibande said.

The secretariat also reported that only 63% of the 145 police stations visited had victim empowerment rooms and most were being used for storage or as coffee rooms.

Only two of the stations visited were 100% compliant with the Domestic Violence Act, while 78% were partially compliant.

However, SAPS’s Lieutenant General Khehla Sitole told the committee that disciplinary cases against members that relate to domestic violence are a “priority”.

He added that provincial commissioners were held accountable for members’ non-compliance of members through a performance management system.

But, Lisa Vetten, researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, said: “The issue is that there [are] no consequences for police officers who do not comply ... .The problems have been longstanding”

She added that there was “no political will” from the Police Minister to instruct police officers and senior managers to take steps against non-compliance with the act.