The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said if organised crime were to be reduced, the police will need to work with inteligence.
The institute’s head of justice and violence prevention, Gareth Newham, explained that there were so many reasons for murder and other crimes but the main root of this menace is that South Africans had normalised violence.
“In some areas, the issues that’s driving murder when we’re talking about gang violence would be gang violence, the people are fighting for turf and that can be the same for taxi violence… different taxi associations start getting into conflict.”
Newham said more officers on ground could help deal with this crimes but it had its bad side too.
He indicated that between 2002 and 2012, 68,000 posts were added in the SAPS, but training program was reduced from two years to one.
“We pushed through lots of people and didn’t give them effective training, didn’t provide the necessary management factors with that large influx of officers.”
“When you have police officers that are not properly trained, not properly managed, not working to a clear strategy, no matter how many you have, they’re not going to be effective.”
“It’s not about the number of police officers you have, it’s about how well they’re trained and about how professional they are.”
