Child Protection Unit: briefing by SAPS

Meeting report

JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF CHILDREN YOUTH AND DISABLED
13 June 2001
CHILD PROTECTION UNITS: BRIEFING

Chair: Mr. B. Willem

Relevant Documents
Profile on the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit
SAPS Presentation on Programmes to address Violence Against Women and Budgetary Allocation for Women

SAPS representatives: Head of Finance: Assistant Commissioner S.J. Schutte; Director J.C Swart (Efficiency Services) and National Commander: Family Violence, Sexual Offences and Child Protection Units Senior Superintendent Anneke Pienaar.

SUMMARY
The SAPS has finally confirmed that the Child Protection Unit is excluded from the ongoing restructuring of the specialised police units. The CPU will, instead, be strengthened and rolled out in the rural areas where such services are lacking.

The SAPS has also introduced human rights and sensitising courses in an ongoing training for the police personnel. This is meant to improve service delivery to members of the public.

MINUTES
Presentation by Commissioner Schutte
Commissioner Schutte outlined the entire structure of the SAPS programme formation. When funding is budgeted for the SAPS, the interdisciplinary nature of the police work is considered. Emphasis is now being directed at the point of service delivery, which is very crucial to communities.

Significant budgetary allocations are committed to visible policing which has an important deterrent effect. Intelligence gathering and record keeping are areas receiving close attention to bring these operations in tune with the current technological developments.

Presentation by Superintendent Pienaar
Superintendent Pienaar said that various programmes have been mooted and are being run within the SAPS to make report offices people friendly. Different specialised units are being restructured with a view to improve on service delivery.

She confirmed to Committee members that the much-talked about closure of the CPU would not happen. There had never been any intention on the part of SAPS to close the unit. The process of phasing out specialised units did not include the CPU.

Presentation by Director Swart
Director Swart noted that there are ongoing programmes addressing the co-ordination and organisation of the SAPS. Women and children are receiving top priority in this restructuring exercise. The reorganisation process, which was in phases, is trying to eliminate the fragmented approach to important issues such as how members of the public are treated at police stations.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked how information on crime was gathered in provinces and how budgetary allocations were made to the provinces.

Commissioner Schutte explained that the geographical classification of police units were responsible for gathering information which was then channelled through the established structures to the central data bank.

All programmes are funded according to provincial needs and capacity. Relevant factors that are taken into consideration, were priority areas, the previous budgetary allocation and the needs of the particular area.

Ms Mbuyazi (ANC) and Ms Ghandhi (ANC) complained about the negative attitude prevailing at police stations.

Ms Ghandi noted that abused children and women go through secondary abuse at the police stations. Were there any steps towards correcting this mischief, which is, perpetrated by the law enforcers themselves?

Superintendent Pienaar said that a specialised three-week training has been introduced to induct officers in areas of handling sensitive crimes like rape and child abuse. Experts from outside the SAPS including psychiatrists, lawyers, doctors, social workers and people from the NGO sector were participating in these training programmes.
A multi-disciplinary conference was being organised where Interpol and the Centre for Dispute Resolution have been invited.

Mr Da Camara (DP) asked if there were any mechanisms in place to protect abused victims from being intimidated by the accused persons.

Commissioner Schutte stated that there were numerous cases of intimidation directed at complainants. The practice was common in family violence cases but added that the police could not go further than educating the abused person on her rights.

On the same issue, Mr. Maloyi (ANC) asked how SAPS is addressing the tendency of abused persons to withdraw the charges under pressure.

Superintendent Pienaar explained that the issue of withdrawing a case was beyond the power of the police. All that the police do is to ask the complainant to sign a declaration, which is sent to the Justice Department for a final determination.

Mr. Zondi (IFP) asked if there was an increase or reduction in child abuse cases.

Commissioner Schutte said that there had, unfortunately, been a significant increase in these types of cases.

Mr. Raju (DP) lamented the fact that increasingly many police officers are getting involved in criminal activities. He accused the police of maintaining a culture of protecting their own whenever caught in criminal acts.

Superintendent Pienaar agreed that the incidence of police criminality was on the increase but such cases are dealt with decisively. Officers who commit crime are treated like any other criminal.

Ms Gandhi (ANC) inquired about the criteria used in allocating officers to sexual offences cases. Is priority given to female officers who are known to be more sensitive to these issues?

Superintendent Pienaar replied that the decision to allocate officers sexual offence duties was not based on gender consideration. Research had shown that it is a question of attitude that mattered and not gender. With the right attitude, male officers are known to do a superb job in this area.

The meeting was adjourned.