Your article published on page two of the RECORD of September 20 Carnage on our roads, refers: The article referred to a motor vehicle collision on Klipriver Road near the airfield. According to the report, a vehicle crashed into the back of a vehicle that had pulled off the road as the occupants wished to urinate.
Apparently, the CPF attended the scene after failing several times to get hold of Brackendowns SAPS, Mondeor SAPS, Ekhuruleni metro or Johannesburg metro cops to attend the scene. Shockingly, as the situation unfolded, the driver of the vehicle who apparently was under the influence of alcohol at the time, was not tested for this.
Must Read: Three killed in accident – no legal authority available to assist
The events, as the report suggests unfolded, are wrong on so many levels. As a former member of SAPS from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, what happened in this incident goes against all that we were taught and all that we stood for. The basics have not changed since that time.
The first problem is the fact that the collision scene was not attended by anyone since it occurred in neither of the police stations’ area. Unless things have changed since my time in the service (and I don’t believe that the basics have changed at all) any member of the SAPS can act if he sees any offence occurring anywhere in the Republic. Should the member be off duty at the time, he will place himself on duty and attend to the matter. (The exact wording may be wrong but I am sure you get the gist of the implications).
There should be nothing such as ‘a policeman can’t attend to a matter because he is off duty’ or ‘he is outside his area’. The question I ask myself is: If Brackendowns CPF attended, was it not in their area? If it was, then surely Brackendowns CPF would not be operational in Mondeor SAPS’ area?
The second issue is the fact that because only a CPF member was at the scene, legally he could not perform an arrest on the matter nor could he arrange for a sample of blood to be taken from the suspect. Legally this has to be done within a two-hour period of the commission of the offence.
This was correct as far as the CPF member was concerned although I have an alternate view on how to rid the country of crime.
The SAPS is critically short of members and resources – by their own admission. Surely the law could be changed to enable members of the CPF – even if they are not armed and do not attend to violent crime since they don’t have bulletproof vests etc – to affect arrests in certain circumstances such as these where waiting longer than the two hours would cause any evidence such as blood samples to be inadmissible as evidence. This is something to ponder although the real problem is that it should never happen that the SAPS don’t attend a scene.
The next problem with how the matter unfolded is that I got the impression that a photographer took photos at the scene, but since a uniform officer didn’t attend, there was no plan drawn up of the accident scene. If the suspect was charged with reckless or negligent driving or even culpable homicide, the plan would be necessary evidence that forms part of the case docket.
Our current law states that any collision a government vehicle is involved in or where any death or serious injury occurs, a plan of the accident scene must be drawn up and placed in the docket. Since the vehicles had been removed I assume that this also would not have been done. It naturally follows that there is no way of rectifying the situation and that vital evidence is now gone or destroyed forever even though photographs were taken – according to the report.
It will not even really help to take disciplinary action against anyone as it won’t change the fact that because any suspect is innocent until proven guilty, proving any case now will be very difficult. This could result in justice not being served for the families of the innocent victims which is not an acceptable situation.
Members of the public must be aware that in the event of any police station refusing to, or failing to attend to any matter due to an area dispute or lack of manpower, the following can be done – especially since a delay, as in this case, could permanently affect the outcome of a criminal investigation:
- There is usually a commissioned officer in charge of the charge office on most of the shifts and it is desirable to speak to him or her and obviously get details of who he or she is. This will help with accountability.
- If you are unhappy with the situation you may ask to get hold of a ‘duty officer’ who is available on station level. This officer is on duty 24 hours a day and is inter alia responsible for attending to major incidents as well as incidents where a member of the force discharges his or her weapon.
- If this fails, then the station commander can be contacted as they are also on duty 24/7. In the event of him being unavailable, he will delegate this function to the duty officer at the station level.
- If all else fails then phone the complaint through to the 10111 service. The complaints are either given to the vehicles of each station or even a flying squad vehicle.
A SAP 280 is opened when the complaint is issued to the officers. On completion of the complaint, the officers have to give a report back. This service will automatically determine the police station in whose area the incident has occurred and give the complaint to the correct station’s vehicle and dispatch them to attend the scene. All the calls to the 10111 service are recorded.
I am unfamiliar with the procedure on the metro police’s side but I am sure it would be something along the same lines.
The most troubling aspect is the fact that the CPF members, who are volunteering their time and resources to serve the community to combat crime, are not getting support in this instance. Apparently, the CPF member had to attend the scene and even do traffic control – something he is not trained for but also shouldn’t have to do.
If I am sacrificing my family time and I feel I am not getting the support then I will just stop patrolling – why would I continue?
We need to get back to basics with our policing or else we will lose the battle.
Having said all that, it must be noted that there are very good SAPS members at all levels and at all stations but we need to root out the bad ones if we are to stop crime. Also, as with this case, we need to attend scenes properly so as to make sure we know where convictions are justified. We need to attend the scene in such a manner that we assist the courts in their effort to obtain convictions.
Be aware of your rights and the procedures as you can then ensure that your matter will get the attention it deserves.
CPF members should have better communication from the SAPS’ side so people know whom to contact.
Concerned resident
RECORD contacted the Brackendowns SAPS, Mondeor SAPS, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police and Johannesburg Metropolitan Police weeks ago for comment, but we have received none by the time of publishing.
In the meantime the RECORD forwarded the letter and initial story to SAPS provincial office for comment and was subsequently paid a visit by Captain Pinky Tsinyane – the matter is under investigation by SAPS’ provincial offices.
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