Ernest Mabuza
1 November 2007
Johannesburg — THE restructuring of the South African Police Service was hotly debated at a conference yesterday, with police management saying restructuring will improve efficiency while a researcher disputed this.
The police restructuring plan entails the abolition of 43 area offices and moving their personnel to police stations, provincial offices or national headquarters.
Director Hannes Swart told the conference that police management had identified several factors impeding optimal police functioning. These included the concentration of senior and experienced personnel at national, provincial and area levels.
Swart said that the removal of the area offices would eliminate duplication and allow quicker responses to changing circumstances and community needs.
The Institute for Security Studies hosted the conference, which ends today, to consider developments in policing in the light of the restructuring of the service and the 2010 Soccer World Cup to be held in SA.
Under the restructuring plan, members of the s erious and v iolent c rimes u nit; the f amily v iolence, c hild p rotection and s exual o ffences u nit; the c rime c ombating u nit; and the d etective s ervice would be redeployed to police stations from area offices. Swart said the plan would probably be approved before the end of the financial year in March 2008.
However, institute researcher Johan Burger said the area commissioners were also responsible for oversight, including regular inspections and guidance. This duty will now be a responsibility of designated "accounting" stations.
"Will accounting stations be able to do this? Accounting stations are police stations in the first place."
Burger expressed concern about the apparent shutting down of specialised units. He said specialised units were developed to address a specific crime problem and were relatively small. By scattering the members of these units into different police stations, their specialised skills might be lost to other investigation needs.
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