By Frank Maponya
Policing experts say the pressure to lower national and provincial crime figures is causing some police station commissioners to deliberately cook the figures so that their stations can be seen to be performing.
These concerns have been brought to the fore by revelations that the Tzaneen police station – which the SAPS named the most improved police station when it moved from 600th to number one performing station – is under investigation after police officials at the station alleged that they were under-reporting crimes.
Fuelling the unease is the fact that the agency that rated the Tzaneen police station the best in the country admitted that its conclusions were purely based on a survey conducted by phone and nothing else.
The Professional Management Review (PMR) declared Tzaneen station the best in terms of service delivery standards, unaware that there were many irregularities at the station.
Police headquarters has now set up a team to investigate allegations that the station's head, Assistant Commissioner Khazamula Phineas Ngoveni, manipulated statistics in order to convince the SAPS that his station had brought crime down in the area.
According to police sources some of the methods used to create a false impression of effectiveness included:
* murder cases being reduced to inquests and
* housebreaking cases to trespassing.
*Many other cases were not being recorded in the system, making it difficult for complainants to get case numbers in order to claim with insurance companies.
Some of the officers who spoke to Sowetan on condition of anonymity said they feared Ngoveni, whom they described as "being a law unto himself".
David Bruce, senior researcher at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, said: "Over the last years they have had a target of reducing violent crimes by between 7 and 10 percent.
"That put police stations under severe pressure from the police management."
Published in Sowetan, 01 December 2008
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
