Hon Deputy Speaker, the Portfolio Committee on Police held a one-day conference called the Detective Dialogue in support of the Minister of Police declaring 2012 the Year of Detectives in his 2012 budget speech. The Detective Dialogue aimed to bring together public representatives, civil society and the South African Police Service to share knowledge on their collective experiences regarding detective services. It also aimed to help to ensure the ideal of a well-trained, fully resourced and professional detective service for the next decade. It further aimed to firmly establish the Portfolio Committee on Police as an action-driven oversight body of Parliament. It also aimed to encompass the spirit of co- operative government as enshrined in Chapter 3 of the Constitution of South Africa to promote public participation in the work of Parliament and to discuss some of the key challenges in the detective environment.
The Detective Dialogue, which was the first of its kind held by the Portfolio Committee on Police, was open for participation to civil society, academics, training organisations and the police. Provincial role-players, including members of the executive councils and provincial standing committee chairpersons, were invited as well as members of the Parliamentary Peace and Security Cluster committee. This enabled rich discussions on the issues faced by detectives. The format of the dialogue was designed to encourage debate amongst participants. It was hoped that maximum participation would create an environment in which participants would provide innovative and useful suggestions for reorganising the agenda for making detectives more effective. Much of the attention of the Portfolio Committee on Police during the Fourth Parliament has been focused on detectives. While recognising the prioritisation of detective services by government over the past few years, the committee has raised a number of key concerns and made various recommendations in this regard.
As a key role-player in the oversight of expenditure of public funds the Portfolio Committee on Police is mandated to ensure that allocated funds are reaping the intended benefits in terms of the performance of detectives on ground level, where it is most prominently felt by communities, in other words getting value for money. However, some challenges identified by the portfolio committee during its engagement with the police needed to be addressed urgently so as not to nullify the advantages of the increases in the budget of detective services.
Discussions held during the Detective Dialogue produced valuable insight from participants and later constructive recommendations on the way to go forward and how to further improve the detective services of the police. The following recommendations, flowing from the Detective Dialogue, were made by the Portfolio Committee on Police: Firstly, that the SA Police Service, the Civilian Secretariat for Police and the Public Service and Administration must establish the actual number of detectives currently functioning within the SAPS. A skills audit should be done based on the numbers to identify the training needs of these detectives.
Secondly, recruitment should be focused on ensuring high quality in the calibre of detectives. This focus on professionalism and marketing of detectives as a career of choice within the SAPS must be reflected in qualified, quality, and focused recruitment criteria.
Thirdly, proper protection of the crime scene is essential for effective investigation. Training in crime scene management should form an integral part of the basic training curriculum of the SAPS. Fourthly, while it is acknowledged that not all the detectives should be specialists, training should be provided to all detectives in some of the specialised areas, including investigation of sexual offences, crimes against women and children, the elderly, cybercrime and fraud. It was recommended that a defined career path and retention strategy must be developed for detectives, and implemented. This may include delinking salary promotions from rank promotions within this environment and that the promotion policy must be addressed in the White Paper on Policing, and form part of future legislation.
The SAPS management, in co-operation with the task team within the detective services, must revisit the resource allocation guideline to bring it in line with current needs of detectives at station level, taking into account the recently released census data.
The key concern of the dialogue was the lack of effective management at station, unit and branch levels. All management appointments and promotions must be carried out on the basis of qualifications or training already achieved. There are 14 recommendations that have been made. The most important for us as part of the dialogue is the fact that we also recommended that this report and its recommendations be elevated to the level of the Minister so that we can ensure that the implementation of these recommendations take place.
In conclusion, the Portfolio Committee on Police resolved that the report should be elevated to the Minister, management within the detective services, together with the Civilian Secretariat for Police, and they must develop a comprehensive response to these recommendations and other challenges highlighted during the Detective Dialogue. We request that Parliament adopts this report. Thank you. [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Deputy Speaker, I move:
That the report be adopted.
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.