SHAKE UP LEAVES POLICE UNMOVED

This is more than ridiculous - this is downright fraudulent! It reminds me of the story that Jeremy Mansfield of Highveld Stereo fame (www.highveld.co.za) told of the unmarked car flashing it's blue light, to get everybody off the road and out of it's way in peak hour traffic, only to pull into a shopping complex parking. As it was Jeremy was also going into that particular shopping complex and saw the guys coming out with packets of cigarettes (if memory serves me correctly - in any event they had gone 'shopping'). They had used their authority to go shopping! What a misuse of power!

Using the flying squad cars and police vehicles to transport yourself and other officers to and from work is tantamount to fraud. In the days that I worked in the corporate world, it was, is and has always been, your own responsibility to get to work - if you cannot get to work, then you have the wrong job!

Shake-up leaves police unmoved

Graeme Hosken
December 04 2006 at 11:56AM

A Pretoria News expose of how the capital's police were abusing and misusing vehicles to transport themselves to and from home has led to a "major shake-up". But the so-called shake-up - which also resulted in a month-long witch-hunt by senior police officers to discover who had spoken to the Pretoria News about the misuse of State vehicles - has achieved little, with vehicles still being used as taxis. The use of police vehicles as taxis has led to residents either being forced to go to a police station to fetch help or having to wait up to four days for Flying Squad members to respond to armed robberies, as in the case of the attack on the Catholic Comboni Study Centre in Willow Glen 10 days ago.


In June the Pretoria News report had revealed that city residents who were the victims of crime were being forced to wait for help while Flying Squad and Highway Patrol Unit officers transported colleagues home.

'We will no longer tolerate ineffective service delivery'An internal report on the SAPS's fleet utilisation policy has been leaked to the Pretoria News. In an earlier report the Pretoria News revealed that there were inadequate control measures in place to prevent the irregular use or misuse of police vehicles in Gauteng. It stated that the province's police members place their personal interests above what was expected of them in terms of the SAPS core functions, with respect to the use of vehicles. The report said that members, including senior officers and unit commanders, simply ignored provisions controlling the use of vehicles.

The report revealed that of the 16 cars in Pretoria's Flying Squad, only four on average were used to patrol the city and its surrounding areas every day. The remaining 12 were used as transport or were kept at police members' homes so they could get to work for the next shift. The new memo comes as police sources in the Flying Squad this week revealed that the availability of cars, especially in the Flying Squad, had continued to deteriorate despite the unit receiving new vehicles.

According to sources, shifts are continuing to end as much as two hours early so that members have enough time to collect colleagues for the next shift. The shifts run from 6am to 2pm, 2pm to 10pm and 10pm to 6am. The memo stated that the current state of affairs and blatant disregard of departmental policy and guidelines concerning the use of State vehicles would no longer be tolerated. Following the expose, an immediate investigation was called for by senior Gauteng police officers.

Pretoria police communication head Superintendent Morne van Wyk failed to respond last week to queries on the outcome of the investigation. Last week the Pretoria News learnt through Director Nick Sithole, who led the investigation, that there had been a "major shake-up following your damning article". Asked about the outcome, Sithole said the investigation was finalised and members were charged and disciplined for contravening regulations regarding the use of State vehicles. "Senior police officers were sent to the unit to beef up command and control after it was learnt that there were serious flaws in the unit's command structures," he said.

But the claims of a shake-up have been met with scorn by city residents and citizen associations. Speaking on the four-day delay, Willow Glen Residents' Association member Andre Terreblanche said the delays were unacceptable. "It is clear that there is a complete lack of management skills in Pretoria police." This has to be addressed urgently so that the police can live up to their motto of serve and protect," he said, adding that there had to be proper planning, leadership and control when it came to policing. He said: "People are far too used to the idea of the police taking days to attend to crime scenes. We have to tell authorities that we will no longer tolerate ineffective service delivery." If there is an armed robbery or an emergency we need immediate response," he said.

Johan Prinsloo, whose sister's home in Garsfontein was burgled on Friday, said he had to wait for more than five hours for a police response. "How can this happen? What has happened to the service delivery from the police?" he asked. "I telephoned Garsfontein police station, but they were unable to help me. I then telephoned 10111, but they told me there was only one car and that it was in Pretoria West and that they could not help."This is absolutely ridiculous."