Wrongful arrests cost SAPS

[schumi]

Cape Town – Police have forked out almost R1bn for wrongful arrests and detention since 2009, the police ministry said in a written reply to Parliament on Friday.

More than R500m was paid following court orders, while the rest were settlements.

Replying to a question from DA MP Zakhele Mbhele, the police ministry said in the 2015/16 year, the department paid more than R200m for wrongful arrests and detentions.

The year before, the department forked out more than R175m.

The ministry said claims could have originated in one financial year and only been paid the following year.

These claims were evidence of the shoddy state of the SAPS, Mbhele said in a statement.

“The proper training of SAPS officers, both basic and on-the-job training, is vitally important to the effective functioning of the entire criminal justice system within the human rights-oriented ethos of the Constitution and acts as an important component in rebuilding the public’s faith in the SAPS.”

The training SAPS recruits received was lost along the way due to poor management that was soft on “enforcing accountability and command-and-control,” Mbhele said.

“There is also a failure to implement on-the-job and refresher training continuously,” he said.

News24
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/wrongful-arrests-cost-saps-20160923

 

[NeonNinja]

//Waits to be wrongfully apprehended.

 

[Drunkard #1]

And nothing's going to change until the ****ers arresting people wrongfully are held personally accountable for paying these settlements and spend some time in jail themselves.

Personal accountability in Africa!?? HA! That'll be the day. There's always someone else to blame.

 

[Azbubu]

And to think that R1bn could have been spent on something important, like more lube.

 

[Milano]

R200 per tax payer.

 

[deweyzeph]

Imagine how many innocent people are sitting in our prisons too due to not being able to afford a decent lawyer.

 

[Solarion]

Imagine how many innocent people are sitting in our prisons too due to not being able to afford a decent lawyer.

That's why I'm wary of the death penalty. Lots of people have gone to the gallows and electric chairs because of poor evidence.

 

[Milano]

Conviction rate is lower than ten percent. A lot of criminals see getting away with murder.

 

[deweyzeph]

Conviction rate is lower than ten percent. A lot of criminals see getting away with murder.

A low conviction rate could also mean there are a lot of wrongful prosecutions. Just because somebody is being prosecuted for something doesn't mean they are guilty. That's why we have the courts. If the conviction rate is low then that is because the courts have decided that those being prosecuted are not guilty of the crime they're being accused of. Most of the time this is due to the incompetence of the SAPS. They either have the wrong person, or they have the right person but they have bungled the case so completely that the courts have no choice but to find the accused not guilty.

 

[Milano]

If the conviction rate is low then that is because the courts have decided that those being prosecuted are not guilty of the crime they're being accused of.

Actually it does not mean that all. There are many reasons that an offender will fail to be convicted. As you yourself mentioned, one of them being substandard SAPS procedures.

 

[deweyzeph]

Actually it does not mean that all. There are many reasons that an offender will fail to be convicted. As you yourself mentioned, one of them being substandard SAPS procedures.

Until you are actually convicted in a court of law you are an accused, not an offender. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. You can't call someone an offender until due process has been followed and they have actually been proven to be an offender.

 

[Milano]

For every criminal case, there is at least one perpetrator. There is no excuse for a conviction rate lower than 10 percent.

 

[RanzB]

And nothing's going to change until the ****ers arresting people wrongfully are held personally accountable for paying these settlements and spend some time in jail themselves.

Personal accountability in Africa!?? HA! That'll be the day. There's always someone else to blame.

Haha, you think that cops are personally liable for wrongful arrests in the US? You think the cops go to jail for it?