Question NW2295 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
28 July 2023 - NW2295
Ramolobeng, Ms A to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
In view of the silo approach by departments in the prevention and combatting of crime being one of the weaknesses of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster, following the aftermath of Mr Thabo Bester’s escape, what steps is his department taking to strengthen its relations with sister departments within the JCPS cluster to ensure that such an incident never takes place again?
Reply:
The department has a programme called the Integrated Justice System (IJS) Programme which is a government initiative that strives to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the South African criminal justice process. It is driving a multi-department effort to increase the probability of successful investigation, prosecution, punishment, and ultimately the rehabilitation of offenders and their restoration back into society to realize a national objective that all South Africans are and feel safe.
As part of the IJS programme, the department has been working on a number of key strategic interventions seeking to ensure an Integrated Management of a person in the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
This has been done through the upgrade and refresh of the Home Affairs National Information System (HANIS) into a new system called Automatic Biometric Information System (ABIS). ABIS phase 1 development and testing have been completed. The system is currently into production.
Key off note are ABIS Phase 1 modalities, these are:
- Unique Person Identifier
- Facial recognition
- Fingerprint Search
- Latent Searches
It should be noted that the provision of a unique person identifier for a person will be essential for the CJS to obtain a holistic view of a person, their current custody status, and associated case history, whilst combatting any potential identity fraud by suspects, alleged accused and convicted criminals.
ABIS Phase 2 is currently being executed. This phase will comprise of modalities like:
- Iris
- Infant Footprint
- Palm Print
Both ABIS Phase 1 & 2 will ensure the Criminal Justice System (CJS) obtains the holistic view of a person and ensure robust person identification across the CJS value chain.
The IJS programme has also completed the development of the Person Identification and Verification Application (PIVA) which provides a solution for IJS departments to verify the identity of an individual using their fingerprints which are checked against Department of Home Affairs (DHA) records. Person Identification and Verification Application (PIVA) provides a solution for IJS departments to verify the identity of an individual using their fingerprints which are checked against Department of Home Affairs (DHA) records. Identity verification is a common requirement across all IJS member departments, and the development of this application was a combined effort. The SAPS is the CJS entry point and was the first department to implement PIVA in 2017. This solution has been rolled out to 1069 out of 1156 (92%) police stations across nine provinces. In the last financial year, the solution successfully verified the identify of 203 138 persons, of which 60 981 (30%) had previous SAPS records, and 5371 (2.6%) were identified as wanted persons.
As part of the IJS programme, the SAPS is currently executing an integrated booking solution which forms part of the Integrated Person Management (IPM) project. The IPM project is 97% complete and is ahead of schedule. Pilot for Release 1 (Person Booked & Verified), Release 2 (Unique Identified Person), Release 3(Tracked Person), and release 4 (Person Booked into holding facility) was conducted successfully during the 2022/23 financial year in the Johannesburg central police station. Release 5 (Person booked into holding facility) & 6 (Safeguard & manage person) rolled into production in Brooklyn. Development of Release 7 (Safeguard & Manage Person) is currently 85% complete