WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-11-01 Time: 05:00:11 Posted By: Jan
Government is moving ahead with its plans to incorporate private security companies in the fight against crime – but experts are divided on whether it is a good idea.
Ministers in government’s justice, crime prevention and security cluster defended the initiative, which will see private security guards as the “eyes and ears” of the police, and have urged the public to support it.
Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa told a media briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) had been signed between the SAPS in Honeydew, Johannesburg, and private security companies for a pilot project.
The plan has been endorsed by Justice Minister Enver Surty and Intelligence Minister Siyabonga Cwele, who said there was “enthusiasm” in government about the project.
Mthethwa said in terms of the agreement with the private security companies, guards would “preserve” crime scenes if they arrived at them before the police.
“We are going to train security guards on the basic things such as crime scene preservation.
“This is a pilot project we’d want to extend to urban areas in other parts of the province.”
Private security guards will be trained on how to use radios to communicate with police.
“We are not pressing panic buttons but South Africa is in a panic mode on the issue of crime so we will do anything possible to reduce crime. Contact crime is a major concern that requires partnerships with communities,” said Mthethwa.
All security companies that will be used in the project will be “screened” before taking part.
Mthethwa said the SAPS would rely on the security companies’ “visibility” on the street to decrease contact crimes.
“We hope to tap into the availability of their (private security) vehicles. It’s quite a comprehensive partnership. We need to move with speed in such a partnership because the private security companies are bigger (in number) than the SAPS.
“We have recruited 10 000 members every year into the SAPS but this is not making a significant impact in contact crimes,” said Mthethwa.
The head of the crime prevention centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Barbara Holtmann, said the initiative was a bit “naive”.
“We should be cautious about handing power to private security companies because they are not subject to the same oversight and tight rules that control the SAPS.
“On what basis can we trust what the security companies say when they are motivated by profit? Even with screening it is naive to think that this project will rule out criminality,” said Holtmann.
She questioned whether the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), which investigates police wrongdoing, would be able to investigate security companies.
“It’s dangerous for us to blur the line. Surely there must have been more strategic planning than that. I applaud any initiatives to fight crime… but we need to think again about what protection we put in place for citizens if legal issues arise.
I would feel much better about this initiative if I knew how the private security companies will be held accountable,” said Holtmann.
Steve Conradie, the chief executive of the Security Industry Alliance (SIA) and representative of Business Against Crime (BAC), said: “Police will continue to do their work and security companies will continue theirs.
“The project will increase the eyes and ears for the police.
“The BAC facilitated this project from the beginning and it could be the recipe to use in other crime hotspots such as Honeydew,” said Conradie.
He said security companies would help police by sharing information, and identifying wanted criminals and stolen vehicles.
“The crime management centre will respond to incidents when we tell them about it.
“This is part of using maximum resources to achieve the maximum results because the project could have a huge impact if rolled out successfully,” said Conradie.