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The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron is gravely concerned by information that the South African National Police Service (SAPS) intends to close down the important Inspectorate Analysis Centre and Service Complaints. According to him there is no logical explanation and no rationale for such a decision in a country suffering the sheer weight of underperformance at station level.
 

He said: “The closure of this critical component is both pointless and against the spirit of accountability and Batho Pele that assures the people of quality government services. Also, a democratic country like South Africa is dependent on strong checks and balances within and outside any institution, and closing this component will rob the country of critical checks and balances required to ensure quality service delivery.”
 

Mr Cameron added that this decision will weaken accountability and further compromise the already poor accountability framework within the SAPS. “To an institution that has a serious trust deficit, its closure will further erode the low faith that the people have in the police,’ Mr Cameron emphasised.
 

The committee’s view is strengthened by the number of service complaints it has received since its inception. “The committee had to develop a mechanism for service delivery complaints due to the magnitude of submissions it received.

This component assisted the committee to resolve a number of those complaints. Its closure will inevitably diminish the possibilities within SAPS to reduce the inflow of complaints against the police,” Mr Cameron emphasised.
 

Moreover, the Criminal Justice System project highlighted the centrality of data driven policing. The component was intended to investigate cases individually and also aggregate all complaints with a view to identify trends through analysis, of which the findings are then utilised to inform management to effect corrective action. This will undermine the intention to data driven policing and will not add value.
 

The Chairperson will write a letter to the Minister and the National Commissioner to get the rationale behind the decision and to chart a desirable way forward.

Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron