We have always known that part of the reason a number of South Africans are subjected to criminality has to do with police ineptitude. We didn’t, however, imagine the situation could be this dire.
The annual report of parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence revealed our men and women in blue procured drones and grabbers, which are particularly useful when dealing with gangs and organised criminals — but they’re not being used.
Grabbers can help provide a person’s location in addition to intercepting communication. Immediately this equipment becomes useful in locating and isolating drug lords who have recently been shooting at anything that moves in the west of Johannesburg. The Cape Flats. The volatile KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Or even those planning to create havoc on our national roads simply because they have demands about how truck owners must conduct their businesses.
The importance of the use of technology in the fight against crime should never be understated. As crime and criminals evolve, so must policing. Yet we know the battle to embrace technology extends to many sectors of society. For some reason, we believed those who want to be ahead of criminals will use every piece of technology available to catch the bandits.
Imagine our horror when we discovered, thanks to the police intelligence annual report, that grabbers “were locked up and not being used because the service did not have the required certificate to operate them” and that the police do not have a licence to fly the drones, so they’re in storage.
Meanwhile, the nation is made to believe that given the carnage we saw in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng in July 2021, which resulted in the death of more than 350 people and damage of more than R50bn, our police were now ready to deal with any eventuality.
As political temperatures rise in the period leading to the May 29 polls — specially in KwaZulu-Natal, what with the country’s highest court ruling that former president Jacob Zuma is ineligible to represent his new formation, the Umkhonto weSizwe Party, in parliament — we are constantly assured the police were on top of the situation.
You’d think when the police say they’re conducting thorough analysis, they would not end up with locked equipment that should be deployed to save lives
At a briefing on behalf of the police, defence and intelligence structures of the country known as NatJoints, Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili told the nation on Sunday there were 650 high-risk poling stations.
“We have identified a number of high-risk voting stations and potentially in volatile areas that are being monitored on an ongoing basis. Deployments are subsequently proportional to the level of risk identified through intensified operations informed by thorough analysis and intelligence-based reports.
“Threats identified, such as community protests, are being attended to and those found to be in contravention of the law are being dealt with. Our public order policing units are on the ground and ready to prevent and combat any such incidents,” she said.
On the surface, this is assuring. The language used is certainly meant to assure.
Often, actual performance differs from the public relations messaging. You’d think when the police say they’re conducting thorough analysis, they would not end up with locked equipment that should be deployed to save lives.
Knowing that police crime intelligence is struggling with ensuring they have the necessary licences to fly drones or signatures to operate grabbers does nothing to assure a sceptical public tired of police ineptitude.
Get the damn drones up in the air and save lives. It’s the least we expect.
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