Data-based policing needed urgently

One of the most progressive things that South Africa can take from the government’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic is its reliance on science and data.

From day one, Dr Zweli Mkhize and his team made it clear that their response to the pandemic was only informed by known facts gathered from how the virus had behaved in other countries as well as published papers in credible in credible scientific journals. Even the continued unsustainable ban on the sale of tobacco is based on scientific reasoning, however flimsy some might say it is.

Why on earth then, does President Ramaphosa’s government continue to pursue policing strategies based on thumb-sucked data and innuendo? Why is Minister of Police Bheki Cele allowed to continue claiming easy victories against crime based on unproven data with little or no science behind it?

The coronavirus lockdown has created artificial conditions which have taken away the public’s focus on this country’s terribly high crime rate.

Only the very daring criminals have had the audacity to venture out doing major crime because of the heightened presence of the police and army on the country’s streets.

Yet Minister Cele has continued to trumpet the successes of the lockdown in bringing crime levels down. No high ranking government official has seen it proper to pull the minister aside and read him the memo that the whole country has read: the lockdown was never put in place to fight crime, it is simply to mitigate against the pandemic. The very real job of fighting crime remains. In fact, with the economy as depressed as it is, criminals might become even more daring post-lockdown and policing strategies will have to measure up.

The country can no longer afford to have a police minister who is seen to be talking tough against crime and criminals but is very thin on data-based policing.

Whilst President Ramaphosa must be praised for having appointed a health minister as astute as Dr Mkhize, he needs to be criticised for continuing the ruling party’s legacy of appointing Police Ministers and Commissioners that are full of fighting talk but lack real policing strategies based on tangible data. Minister Bheki Cele is no different from former Police Minister Fikile Mbalula who thrived on being seen to be doing the right thing rather than the effective thing.

The cowboy bravado-type policing that is encouraged by the minister actually plays into the hands of those accusing the police of brutality. Who can ever forget the minister’s “shoot first ask questions later” encouragement to cops when he was still police commissioner? He has now upped the ante by effectively turning the entire police force into liquor licensing inspectors during lockdown, with the unintended consequence that some of the men and women in blue saw a perfect opportunity to make a quick buck during the liquor prohibition period.

The latest in the ridiculous policing methods during the lockdown is the encouragement of the police in arresting citizens who are found in possession of a single pack of cigarettes in a vehicle because they “are deemed to be transporting tobacco”.

These sort of policing methods have effectively criminalised smoking and drinking alcohol whilst they have had very little to no effect in slowing down the pandemic which should have been the police minister’s primary focus in the first place. The actions of the police have resulted in the arrest of over 220 000 people for breaking various lockdown regulations.

The question is, are the tangible results that show that the arrests all those people have had a positive impact in halting the spread of the coronavirus?

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