Pretoria - Police will take steps to improve communication with the public to ensure that communities are updated on the work they are doing.
This was one of the undertakings to emerge from a meeting between Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and MECs responsible for policing in Cape Town on Friday.
When a member of the public reports a case, some police officers take statements but do not give updates on investigations to complainants; particularly in areas were progress has been made such as the arrest or sentencing of a criminal. This lack of communication leads to the impression that police are not effective, the Police Ministry noted.
"To correct this, communications and interactions are going to be improved at police station level because that is where investigators interface directly with the public. This will be done as part of the on-going training of police officers, particularly through community forums as well as directly with crime victims," it said.
The current assessment and monitoring of police stations needed to be reviewed to allow communities to get involved in the process, Mthethwa added.
A uniform monitoring and evaluation criteria was needed for all police stations in order to enhance service delivery.
Improvements needed to start at the station level, the minister said.
"Police station commanders must attend community policing forums regularly and must be known within the communities which they are policing. Such interactions will not only improve service delivery but also strengthen partnerships."
The meeting also reflected on the need for police to work towards more convictions.
"Policing in South Africa must now be taken to a higher level; we need to move beyond arrests. What will build confidence in the justice system is when police secure more convictions but also informing the very same communities about such outcomes. To secure convictions, we would need better-trained investigators who present watertight cases in courts," Mthethwa said.
Also highlighted at Friday's meeting was the need to build more police stations, particularly in rural areas which were historically disadvantaged.
Mkhwanazi told the meeting that this was a priority area for SAPS in the coming years and that police wanted to ensure that communities did not have to travel long distances to report a crime.
These new police stations would need to have the right resources, proper command and control, proper monitoring systems and officers who were committed to crime reduction.
