South African Police Service Budget: discussion

SELECT COMMITTEE ON SECURITY AND JUSTICE
24 February 1999
SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE BUDGET: DISCUSSION

Documents handed out:
Outline of police service restructuring
SAPS Budget 1999/2000
Explanatory Memorandum to the Appropriation Bill for the Independent Complaints Directorate.

SUMMARY
The Divisional Commissioner for Management Services gave a presentation on the proposed restructuring of the SAPS. MPs asked questions regarding the impact of the restructuring on Provincial policing. Assistant Commissioner Boschmann presented the Budget for 1999/2000 and took questions. The CEO for SAPS also answered questions from the MPs.

MINUTES
The Chair, Mr Moosa (ANC, Gauteng) opened the meeting. He gave a description of how the budget debate would work on 4 March. The Committee will look for Provincial focus on three line functions: Justice, Safety & Security, and Correctional Services. At the joint briefing held earlier with the Justice Department, the Select Committee was interested not so much in national policy issues as in implementation, because that is what impacts most on the Provincial level. So the debate on 4 March will be a criminal justice debate, and they will try to deal with all three line functions at the same time. Today’s meeting should be seen in the context of the Committee’s interest in Provincial affairs. Even though they have been party to two previous joint briefings with the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security, they wanted the SAPS back again today so they could take a specifically Provincial focus. Mr Moosa invited the Divisional Commissioner for Management Services to give his presentation.

Overview of the SAPS restructuring
The Divisional Commissioner said he wanted to give an overview of the SAPS restructuring that had been proposed. He began with the motivations involved in the police force restructuring. He said that the key motivation was to increase the effectiveness of the police force, which will be accomplished in several ways:
1. By enabling responsible managers to focus on operational (crime) issues.
To give one example, the current Commissioner for Operational Response has all sorts of other responsibilities, including personnel services, career management, and so on.
2. To establish a separate capacity to deal with developmental and maintenance issues. This will enable the relevant manager to focus more on human resource development as opposed to just human resource administration.
3. To align structures with government policy. The police force is not currently geared to implement policy papers put forth by the government; they must be organised in a way that enables them to deal with new policies as they come out

The proposed restructuring would result in ten functional divisions, instead of the five that currently exist. The new divisional structure, with associated responsibilities, would be as follows:
Management Services, responsible for strategic planning, anti-corruption and internal audits, and Information Management. Info Management would be linked to the Police Services Information Systems, which will be transferred and linked to the new State Information Technology Agency.

Crime Prevention, responsible mostly for policy and standards, as well as community policing.

Operational Response Services, to cover operational planning, public order, and border policing.

Two new divisions would be created to split between two very separate and different functions of the police force: Crime Intelligence, to focus on preventing crime, and Detective Services, to focus on responding to crime.

There is also a significant change in the Human Resources structure, in which three divisions are broken out: Personnel Services, Career Management, and Training. This split enables administrative and support functions to be separated from development functions in terms of training and career management.

Additionally, the following two divisions have been split in the new structure, where they previously were under the same division: Financial and Administrative Services, and Logistics. This split is recommended because it is not appropriate for the people who deal with finances to also be the ones who deal with procurement

The Divisional Commissioner explained that the four Deputy National Commissioners are to oversee the different strands of the new structure – one in charge of Crime Prevention and Operational Response Services, one in charge of Crime Intelligence and Detective Services, one in charge of the three HR strands (Personnel Services, Career Management, and Training), and one in charge of Financial Services and Logistics.

An MP asked how the new structure split between line functions and support functions.

The Divisional Commissioner said that Crime Prevention, Operational Response Services, Crime Intelligence, and Detective Service were line functions, and Personnel Services, Career Management, Training, Financial & Administrative Services, and Logistics were support functions.

The Chair said the most important thing for this Committee to understand is how this structure filters down into the Provinces.

The Divisional Commissioner said that once they have executed the reorganisation and implemented the new structure, they will then filter that down to Provincial levels and see what changes need to be made.

Mr Radue (NNP, Eastern Cape) said he thought the Divisional Commissioner had misunderstood the Chair’s question – the question is how the structure will impact crime-fighting at a Provincial level. For example, how will intelligence services be co-ordinated at a Provincial level.

The Divisional Commissioner said that all information will feed into a national system, and it will be a two-way system. Information will be fed in, analysed, and then transmitted back to the Provinces.

Ms Tyobeka (ANC, Eastern Cape) asked about DNA testing, and said she knew of a case where a rape victim became pregnant and needed a DNA test to prove parentage of her rapist, but was told it would take six months to process.

The Divisional Commissioner answered that DNA testing is covered under Detective Services in the new structure. DNA testing is expensive but important, and they are investing in it as a valuable crime-solving tool.

Mr Surty (ANC, Northwest Province) said that was not the question. DNA testing is currently centralised, and the ability of police to reach victims in rural areas leaves much to be desired. Given the constraints, are there any plans to decentralise services like DNA testing?

The Divisional Commissioner answered that there are forensics labs in each Province, but cost constraints dictate that some services, like DNA testing, be performed centrally.

Mr De Ville (FF, Mpumalanga) asked where the Provinces fit into the structure chart that the Divisional Commissioner presented. It did not look as if the Provinces came into the hierarchy at all.

The Divisional Commissioner answered that the Provincial structure was not linked in with the chart he had shown; they have their own hierarchies and report directly up to the National Commissioner.

The Chair said that the structure seems very wide, and the Divisional Commissioner seemed to have trouble answering questions about its implementation in the Provinces. The Chair elaborated by asking how is a specific crime problem addressed in a certain area - if one were to take as an example the problem of hijacking in Gauteng, how is that problem tackled?

The Divisional Commissioner said that the support branches are there to run the business and administration of the SAPS, and that the operational branches are there to do the operations work.

The Chair said that did not answer his question. Who dealt with hijacking?

The Divisional Commissioner answered that Provincial Commissioners would handle it within their own Provinces.

The Chair followed up by asking then what did this national structure do?

The Divisional Commissioner answered that it provided support and strategic planning for the Provincial people.

Mr Radue said there is a serious command and control problem within the police services. In Richmond the National Commissioner had just taken policing power away from the Provisional Commissioner. He concluded that when Provincial Commissioners faced a difficult problem, national support teams should be assigned to them, not have power taken away from them.

The Divisional Commissioner said that the example of Richmond is an unusual and extreme case.

Mr Radue said that the Divisional Commissioner just said the role of the national structure was to allocate support services to the Provincial Commissioners, but those support services still remain under the command of the Deputy National Commissioner that controls their branch in the national hierarchy. This is a problem; they cannot have two bosses. It needs to be clear where ultimate decision-making power resides.

The Divisional Commissioner replied that it is supposed to work in the way Mr Radue has described – the support teams are responsible to the Provincial Commissioners.

The Chair asked if this system is working, why is crime still too high?

The Divisional Commissioner answered that responsibility for crime lies in more areas than just with the police. The SAPS is doing what they can to keep the lid on the pot, but activity needs to happen in a number of areas, including socio-economic development, poverty alleviation, job creation, community involvement, and the justice system.

Mr Surty said the main concern here is that the structure presented does not show anything about the Provinces, but the Provinces are obviously central to crime fighting. That is a serious omission.

The Divisional Commissioner responded that he understood his brief for the Select Committee to be explaining the new divisional structures. If he had known he would be expected to answer questions on Provincial co-ordination he would have prepared differently.

The Chair asked if the Divisional Commissioner thinks this structure is geared towards fighting the high crime rate in South Africa.

The Divisional Commissioner said yes – on the support side they are making sure that support to personnel is optimised. On the operational side it will help SAPS be better at developing the strategies and offering the support that will help the Provincial organisations do their job.

The Chair welcomed several members of SAPS who had just joined the meeting: Mr Kahn, CEO of SAPS; Mr Cramer, Divisional Commissioner, Mr Boschmann, Assistant Divisional Commissioner in charge of finance, and Mr Press, Divisional Commissioner. The Chair explained that the focus of the Committee today was not on issues of national oversight but on Provincial matters.

Mr Kahn said the presentation they have prepared falls into two sections: first, the overall strategy of SAPS, and how that translates into rands, and second, a Provincial breakdown. He asked Mr Boschmann to go through the budget and strategy presentation.

Mr Boschmann presented the numbers in the budget allocation for 1999/2000. They requested R14 498m, and were allocated R14 408m, leaving a shortfall of R90m. In addition, there were four unfunded areas registered as risk areas: General Election, All Africa Games, Border Policing, and White Paper Implementation. The combined unfunded budget for these risk areas is R282m.

The Chair asked how SAPS intends to make up the shortfall.

Mr Boschmann answered that they would have to manage it within their existing budget allocation. He said it would be manageable. He then discussed SAPS’ strategic approach regarding personnel expenditure, saying that their objective was to manage headcount down to between 120 000 and 123 000 equipped personnel over the next three years. He then presented the budget allocations for each province, comparing that allocation to the 1998/99 figures. The numbers are as follows:

An MP asked what determines the allocation each Province gets.

Mr Boschmann said crime tendency, population, geographical area, and the number of police employed in the area are all factors.

The Chair asked how much the budget overall is going up.

Mr Kahn answered that the overall budget is going up just over 5%; so the 26.6% increase in Provincial budgets shows a diversion of funds to the Provinces and to the people on the ground.

Ms Lubidla (ANC, Northern Cape) asked if SAPS considered the vastness of the Northern Cape when making their allocation – the numbers looked very small compared to the other Provinces.

Mr Boschmann said they had, and that was why the allocation went up 26.1% for the coming year.

The Chair mentioned the planned headcount reduction to 120 000 officers, and asked where this would place South Africa relative to other countries in terms of police per population.

Mr Kahn answered that it puts South Africa at about the bottom quartile, internationally speaking. But it would not put South Africa way out of kilter relative to the international community. And there is the broader question of whether police per population is the most important factor to be optimising here. SAPS is making a trade-off in terms of maximising numbers of police officers but also making them better equipped and better trained. For example, four officers staffing a well-placed closed-circuit TV system can be as efficient in terms of monitoring an area as 100 officers walking a beat. They are trying to optimise the staff/technology trade-off as far as the best use of their resources is concerned.

Ms Tyobeka asked how these plans and national teams are being monitored. She was just at a police station in the Eastern Cape trying to find an investigator, and nobody could track him down when he was supposed to be on duty and accessible.

Mr Kahn said absenteeism is a serious concern of theirs. They are introducing systems to deal with the problem, but ultimately the local commander is responsible for enforcing those systems.

Ms Tyobeka asked what steps are being taken to improve representivity in the police force.

Mr Kahn said SAPS had a goal of reaching a 50/50 split between white males/all others by 2000. In 1994 they were 77% white male, and it is currently 60% white male, so they are making progress. They had set a goal of having 30% women in SAPS, which they do not think they will be able to reach. They have done international benchmarking which shows the highest female penetration of any police system world-wide is around 20%. That is just the nature of policing.

Mr Radue asked whether SAPS really thinks it can manage with a budget allocation of less than what they had asked for, or if they think they will be in trouble without the money.

Mr Kahn answered that they would love to have enough money for 200 000 well-equipped, well-trained officers, but there is a huge constraint on resources. This constraint exists across the board in South Africa, not just within SAPS. He believes that the Minister of Finance has found a good balance between giving SAPS everything they want and also providing for the needs of other Departments. He said that other Departments have mandates that are also very important when it comes to addressing the root causes of crime, so he would not want to get everything he asked for at the expense of other Departments.

Mr Radue asked about criminals being released on bail who have already been arrested and released 7 or 8 times previously – does the technology now exist to know right away what the record is of someone who has been arrested?

Mr Kahn answered that with the manual fingerprint system currently in place, it takes 6 to 8 weeks to do a manual search. They have just proposed a plan for automated fingerprint recognition, which Mr Kahn feels could be a quantum leap forward in helping to solve and prevent recurrent crime.

Mr Surty asked about the availability of livestock to police officers – many rural areas could use them quite effectively.

Mr Kahn answered that he would like to extend mounted police forces extensively, especially in rural areas. They are very effective and provide a very good image as well. The problem is that you need a horse of a certain breed and temperament. SAPS is currently developing their own breeding farm.

Mr Surty asked about municipal policing, and whether training programmes had been developed yet.

Mr Kahn said he supports municipal policing entirely. The standards have been set, and it is now up to the municipalities to determine the level of involvement that they want. SAPS stands at the ready to assist them.

An MP asked how the planned headcount reduction will affect rural areas, which are currently short on police stations as it is.

Mr Kahn answered that rural areas are a tough issue, because the reality is that 80% of the population lives in or near metropolitan areas. They are working on community policing and other programmes to help address the gap in rural areas.

Mr Tshivhase (ANC, Northern Province) said he was concerned with personnel being allocated to police bands, where they spend their time playing music instead of policing. He asked if they could be deployed better.

Mr Boschmann said that in 1994 there were about 700 officers in police bands, and that number was now down to about 300. At the Provincial level, they are allowed to have bands on a part-time basis if they can afford it.

Mr Kahn added that it is important to realise the value of bands to the SAPS – it is very important in terms of maintaining morale and a sense of tradition. At an annual cost of R3m, out of a total budget of R14b, it was a pretty good investment.

Ms Tyobeka asked about the system for handling cases of rape and sexual assault, which she considers to be very flawed. There is a lack of trained response staffers across the board, and almost all people dealing with rape victims are men, which is problematic as well. When will the Department change the way it handles rape cases?

Mr Kahn said SAPS is increasingly employing women in sexual assault victim support, and they believe that victim support services are improving. As a society there are serious problems in terms of the treatment of women and children, and unfortunately this is sometimes reflected in the police force as well. SAPS needs to provide secure and private facilities to deal with victims of sexual assault. They also need to employ professional workers who know what to do in those cases.

The Chair asked about the budget increase of 26% for the Provinces – are there any services that used to be provided at a national level that are now being shifted down to the Provinces? In other words, does this budget increase also include a shift of responsibility, and thus a greater fiscal obligation to the Provinces?

Mr Boschmann said that training is being decentralised and will now have to provided for at the Provincial level. Aside from training there are no other functions being shifted to the Provinces.

The Chair asked how much training will cost the Provinces.

Mr Boschmann answered that it would cost less than 1% of their operating budgets.