The “operational independence” of the Hawks and a separate budget allocation for the crime-fighting unit is to be discussed in Parliament this week.It will be part of the hearings by the Portfolio Committee on Police on how the R80-billion allocated to “crime prevention efforts” to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Directorate for Priority Crimes (DPCI) for 2016/17 will be used.The Portfolio Committee on Police “would particularly look at the new top management structure of SAPS and implementation progress of the back to basics campaign which was launched by the acting national police commissioner”‚ when the hearings start on Wednesday‚ said chairperson Francois Beukman.Friday will see the “current state of funding of the DPCI (Hawks)” being addressed “as well as measures implemented to ensure continuous operational independence of DPCI”.“Progress with regard to the implementation of a separate budget programme for the DPCI will also be discussed‚” said Beukman.A “major focus” will also be on the “allocation of resources to different police stations”‚ as the committee “says there is a need to get assurances from police management that necessary resources and human capital will be made available to ensure that historic imbalances are addressed”.Last week‚ the Social Justice Coalition and Equal Education announced that they are taking police minister Nathi Nhleko and acting national commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane to court over "inequitable‚ irrational and unjust" allocation of police resources.Their announcement quoted the Khayelitsha Commission investigating policing in the township which found that “[o]ne of the questions that has most troubled the commission is how a system of human resource allocation that appears to be systematically biased against poor black communities could have survived 20 years into our post-apartheid democracy”.On Sunday‚ Beukman said: “Appropriate resource allocation should also ensure that new settlements that are fast growing get the necessary policing attention”...