Commercial crime has spiralled over the years in the country at large, but continues to be worrisome in provinces such as Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape.
Crime statistics released by the South African Police Service show that in Gauteng the reported cases in commercial crimes in 2011/12 were 31 153 and in 2012/13 cases decreased to 30 808. This means that this crime decreased only by one percent. Even though law enforcement agencies work around the clock in an attempt to eradicate commercial crime, due to the sophistication of the crime constant training is needed for police officers in order to keep up with the criminals, who are always looking for means and ways to rob law abiding citizen and companies of hard earned money.
With the ever increasing level of commercial and economic related crimes in South Africa, coupled with the inability of the South African Police Service to handle the total number of reported crimes, the investigation of these types of crimes mushroomed to crime investigation units and organisations outside the South African Police Service. The complexity of commercial and economic crimes necessitate the utilisation of forensic auditors, legal experts and knowledgeable crime investigators during the investigation or adjudication thereof. Unfortunately, many investigations do not lead to successful prosecutions as the investigators are often inadequately equipped to prevent exploitation of legal loopholes in definitions, procedure and evidence.
Commercial crimes include: fraud, theft, counterfeit currency, credit and debit card offences, internet-based frauds, conspiracy and money laundering. These types of crime often lead to manipulation of our economy, and therefore have other implications that make it difficult of our economy to grow at the expected rate. In most cases commercial crime are not violent, but its consequences are not different from that of violent crime. People are robbed of their livelihood, jobs are lost, families, businesses suffer and a nation is in distress.
A study done by the Grant Thornton International Business Report reveals that 84 per cent of employees or their family members are personally aware of a white collar crime having been committed, while 90 per cent of companies are investing in security because of growing white collar crime. Aside from the monetary loss to companies, the cost of crime to business like white collar crimes affects employee morale, motivation and loss of customers. South Africa businesses loses about 50 to 100 billion rand every year and causes up to five per cent in business turnover. This was revealed by Business Against Crime in South Africa.
The Gauteng Department of Community Safety is mandated to improving quality of policing and investigation capability in the province. This is captured in section 206 of the Constitution, which makes provision for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of police service delivery. In addition, the Gauteng Safety Strategy adopted in 2006 by the Executive Council reiterates the importance of improving the capacity and service delivery of detectives. Moreover, the department has been monitoring the implementation of the Detective 10 Point Plan and its impact on the performance of the Detectives in Gauteng.
In an attempt to assist the detectives within the South African Police Service to perform their duties more diligently and effectively in commercial crime, a total of 50 detectives were identified for a Higher Certificate in Forensic Examinations in the University of the Western Cape. This discipline is designed to assist in reducing these commercial crimes and enabling investigators to embark on their investigations with a better understanding of the legal issues involved, and how this type of crime can be prevented or curbed. These detectives are from the provincial investigation unit and SAPS clusters. Of the 50 detectives, 48 managed to complete the programmes successfully and are ready to plough back what they have learned. This batch of 48 forensic detectives graduated on August 29.
The department continues to work in partnership with the South African Police Service in the province, to ensure that Gauteng is and feels safe. Such partnership is important, but working together with communities to band against any criminal activities that rob South Africans of their democratic right is key, that of being safe in every possible manner is more crucial. Take charge and be an active participant in the fight against crime.
