INDEPENDENT COMPLAINTS DIRECTORATE

STATISTICS: APRIL – DECEMBER 2002


INTRODUCTION

The intake of complaints falling within the mandate of the ICD from 1 April 2001 to 31 December 2002 amounted to 2 286, a decrease of 10.3% compared to the same period in 2001. Cases recorded for the same period in 2001 amounted to 2 549. In the case of deaths, a decrease of 33.2% was recorded compared to the same period in 2001. There was a 14.7% increase of serious criminal offences committed by SAPS members. Incidents of misconduct reported to the ICD decreased by 8.3% compared to the same period in 2001. Figure 1 below represents a graphical comparison for the two years.



Figure 1


DEATHS IN POLICE CUSTODY

Of the 144 deaths in police custody, the majority occurred in Gauteng (25%), followed by Limpopo with 15.3% of the incidents, while KwaZulu Natal had 14.6% of custody deaths. 11.4% of deaths in police custody occurred in the North West, while 9.7% happened in Mpumalanga and 8.3% in the Eastern Cape. 5.6% of custody deaths took place in the Free State. No deaths in police custody were registered in the Northern Cape. See Figure 2 below.

Table 1

Figure2

49.3% of deaths in police custody resulted from natural causes, indicating that the deceased became ill or were already ill when they got into police custody. 20.8 % of custody deaths were as a result of the deceased committing suicide. The role played by the police in these incidents was investigated and found to be minimal if any at all. Injuries sustained prior to custody accounted for 16.7% of the incidents. These incidents indicate the extent to which communities take the law into their own hands. 8.3% of deaths in police custody arose from injuries sustained in police custody this is mostly from injuries inflicted by fellow inmates. 4.9% of the incidents were as a result of possible negligence due to police members having not complied with station orders regulating the management of holding cells. See Table 1 above.


DEATHS AS A RESULT OF POLICE ACTION

Of the 222 deaths as a result of police action, the majority occurred in KwaZulu Natal (34.7%), followed by Gauteng with 28.4% of the incidents, while Mpumalanga had 10.8% of deaths as a result of police action. 6.8% of the deaths as a result of police action took place in both the North West and Western Cape. 5.4% of the incidents occurred in Limpopo, while 3.2% happened in the Eastern Cape, and 2.7% in the Free State. Only 1.4% incidents of death as a result of police action occurred in the Northern Cape. See Figure 3 below.

Figure 3

Table 2

Shooting incidents

There were 204 shootings by police members, which resulted in death. 195 were incidents in which the deceased were suspects, while in 9 incidents the deceased were innocent bystanders caught in a cross-fire between the police and criminals.

Figure 3

39.7% of the shootings occurred during the course of arrest, while 23% took place during commission of a crime. 19% of the incidents happened during attempts by suspects to escape from lawful police custody, 5.9% resulted from negligent handling of firearms. Half a percent of the incidents took place while police members were conducting investigation, while 17.2% of the incidents resulted from intentional shootings not related to police operations. The shooting of innocent bystanders accounted for 4.4%.

Some shootings by Police Station

Most police stations had an average of between 1 and 2 shootings except for 9 police stations in Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal (See Table 1 and Table 2 below), which had between 3 and 6 shooting incidents – which are high when compared to the national average. Other types of complaints were correspondingly high in the same police stations.

Table 3

Table 4

GENDER OF DECEASED
Figure 4







The majority of the deceased in police custody and as a result of police action were males (97.8%). This was a phenomenon in all the provinces. Of the 2.2% deaths of women, these occurred in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, North West and Western Cape. There were no recorded incidents of female deaths in recorded in the Free State, Limpopo and Northern Cape. See Figure to the left.

Race of suspect police members involved in shootings

The majority of suspect police members involved in shootings were African (69%). Followed by Whites (17%) and Asians (8%). 6% of Coloured police members were involved in shootings.


Figure 5

Place where death occurred

Of all 366 deaths in custody and as a result of police action, 50% occurred at the scene of crime/arrest and 26% happened in hospital/clinic, while 19% of the deaths took place in police cells. 2% occurred in a police vehicle and in an ambulance / transit respectively, 1% of the deaths happened in court cells where the deceased were in the custody of the police.


Figure 6
AGE OF DECEASED

The majority (50%) of those who died in police custody and as a result of police action were aged between 19 and 35, while children (0 –18 years) numbered 6% of the deceased. 19% of people in the age range of 36-49 died in police custody and as a result of police action, while 5% were in the 50 –68 age group. The ages of 20% of the deceased could not be determined due to lack identification, their ages had to be estimated during Post Mortems.


Figure 6


CLASSIFICATION OF DECEASED

69% of the deceased were suspects in one or more crimes, while 14% werei n the process of arrest or had not been arrested due to being innocent bystanders. Both mental patients and sentenced (in transit) prisoners accounted for 2% of the deceased.


Figure 7
RANK OF SUSPECT POLICE OFFICERS

The majority of police officers involved in shootings were of the rank Inspector, followed by Sergeants (31%), while 18% of Constables were involved in shootings. Officers at the rank of Captain and Superintendent accounted for 1% and less shooting incidents.


Figure 8


CRIMINAL OFFENCES
Figure 9

A total 427 allegations of criminal offences were reported to the ICD nationally. The majority of criminal offences registered by the ICD were committed in Gauteng (142), followed by the Western Cape (74) and Limpopo (63) cases. 37 cases were reported in the Northern Cape, and 30 cases in the Eastern Cape, while 26 were reported in Mpumalanga and 22 cases in the North West. 17 and 16 cases were reported in the Free State and KwaZulu Natal respectively. Table 5 below gives further details.

Table 5

MISCONDUCT

A total of 1 493 cases of police misconduct were reported to the ICD. 89.4% these cases related to neglect of duty by police members, while 10.4% of misconduct related to failure/refusal to perform duties. Less that half a percent of the cases related to gross discourtesy and ill-treatment of a lower ranking employee of the service. See Figure 10 and Table 6

Misconduct by Province
Figure 10

Table 6