Reality check ‘essential’ on some of Gauteng government’s ideas

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi will need to focus more on an action plan than equipment to achieve effective crime reduction, according to experts.

Lesufi said on Monday in his Gauteng State of the Province Address that combating crime was his “apex priority”.

Stellenbosch University crime research expert Dr Guy Lamb said while it was important to want to innovate and think creatively, it was also essential to assess if a concept would actually work and if there was any evidence to suggest that. He said a reality check on some of the Gauteng provincial government’s ideas was essential.

“Some of it is practical, some of it is expensive and you know it is not going to go anywhere,” he said.

Fight against crime

According to Lamb, there was no way a province could fight crime effectively unless the provincial government had the South African Police Service (Saps), metro police and law enforcement on board.

“If the three arms of government worked well together, then fighting crime would be effective as that would be the foundation to implement new innovations,” he said.

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On Lesufi’s suggestion for use of CCTV, Lamb said it was important and in Gauteng there was quite an extensive CCTV footprint.

“A lot of it is privately owned. You have neighbourhood watchers and private security companies. So you’ve got all this security active [which] would be more effective if they worked together and shared information,” he said.

Lamb said although CCTV and facial recognition could potentially work, criminals were quite good at disguising their faces just by wearing masks.

“But there is quite sophisticated software that is out there. It just costs a lot of money.”

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In terms of acquiring helicopters, Lamb said it would make a big difference in enhancing and supporting the work of the Saps and drone use could assist in police operations and gathering intelligence. But privacy concerns, especially in public spaces, would be an issue.

“It is going to be a long fight if they want to introduce that,” he said.

Tracking stolen guns a ‘silly idea’

With Gauteng’s increasing gun violence and mass shootings, Lesufi said together with the private security industry, they had found a solution which would assist in tracking stolen guns and locating them, wherever they are in the country.

However, Gun Owners South Africa chair Paul Oxley said this “silly idea” had been dragging along since 2014.

Oxley said it was possible in the case of security company and state firearms to be regularly booked into stores on a daily basis, but impossible for civilian firearms.

Gauteng should deal with murder

Head of justice and violence prevention at the Institute for Security Studies Gareth Newham said in Gauteng the most important crime to reduce was murder and that those who committed murders, the networks supporting them and whether it was organised, should be identified.

“The resources are not the main thing. The main thing is what is your plan to bring them down?

“How do you identify the hot spots where murders are taking place? How do you do the kinds of analysis using information systems available to you to understand the factors behind murders? Because murders can be the result of domestic violence,” he said.

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“If you do not have a clear plan, what you have is lots more vehicles, people running around with drones in the sky, but it’s not necessarily going to lead to public safety.

“You can’t just throw resources and equipment around. What crimes are you prioritising? Where are you prioritising them?

“There is absolutely nothing in what he said which gives us any indication these resources will make us safer because we do not know what the plan is.”