Chantelle Benjamin
10 October 2008
Johannesburg — THE Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), in an unprecedented move, is looking at ways to combine private-sector policing initiatives with mainstream crime-fighting.
This, it believes, will help reduce SA's high levels of violent crime.
Greater co-operation between police and the private security industry, with its 339343 employees, has long been proposed by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) because of the wealth of crime information sitting untapped in the various companies, which could assist police.
Popcru said in a discussion document presented at a three-day conference in Midrand that the police and the justice system alone were not going to rid the country of crime and that a new strategy requiring private- sector and community buy-in was needed.
It invited stakeholders from civil society, business and international experts to address the conference, which hopes to yield a comprehensive plan of action against crime.
Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu said: "The days of relying on police to fight crime are over; we have to find a way of linking positively with community groups and with the private-sector and other agencies. But we remain clear that the police should be at the centre of any policing activities."
Any co-operation between the police and the security industry is, however, going to have to overcome long-standing suspicion on both sides.
Steve Conradie, CEO of security umbrella body Security Industry Alliance (SIA), answered a number of questions from delegates about the vetting process for security staff. There were also concerns from the floor about the confidentiality of information shared by the police with these companies, as well as levels of training, the poaching of police by the security sector, and the risks of another industry strike, which led to a spike in crime two years ago.
Conradie said the sector, with a turnover of R50bn, had been unstructured and largely unregulated until 2005. Under the SIA, registered security companies were now compelled to comply with legal requirements with regard to training and labour conditions for staff.
He said there was now a legal onus on consumers to report unfair labour practices and to use only registered security companies. New training standards were also being introduced, which would extend the one week of training to between three weeks and six months.
In terms of community involvement initiatives, Julie Berg of the Centre for Criminology, at the University of Cape Town, spoke on the success of "city improvement districts" in Cape Town, with their private security services, particularly in reducing crime by tailoring policing to the needs of the communities.
"Every district has a different style of policing that prioritises what communities need; it's not a one-size-fits-all approach."
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