New traffic IT system helps cut corruption
Concern about increasing reports of corruption within the city’s metro police department led to promises last year of a clampdown on errant staff by senior officials.
Between January and August last year more than 70 metro officers were arrested for crimes ranging from the sale of fake driver’s licences, to registration of unroadworthy vehicles and accepting bribes from motorists.
The department, in a bid to recover more than R350m in outstanding fines, launched a new IT system in 2004. The first stage was the introduction of a system that linked metro officers to a central data base through the use of cellphone technology.
Yesterday the next stage of the system was launched, an SMS service that can be used by the public to check whether they have outstanding fines. Derek Masoek, director of operations and programmes at the metro police, said the system had helped bring in R200m since December 2004 and reduce corruption.
“If an officer has stopped someone and used the system to confirm outstanding warrants of arrest or fines but there is no corresponding action, like an arrest, the management system picks it up and queries it,” Masoek said.
“We have called in a number of officers to explain why no action was taken against a motorist who has outstanding warrants and they had to give their reasons.”
“It is a very big problem and one we are taking very seriously.”
Masoek said the system would not prevent officials soliciting bribes from motorists caught for traffic offences.
“For this we depend on complaints from the public, which are then handed over to the internal affairs department for investigation.”
The department also conducts its own sting operations using undercover police to arrest officers suspected of accepting bribes.
Yesterday morning while the department was holding the press briefing a senior supervisor was assaulted by two metro staff members for reporting them to the internal affairs department on allegations of accepting bribes.
The department will also try to target repeat offenders, particularly taxi operators, Masoek said.
He also said the National Prosecuting Authority had been approached to assess the legal implications of impounding vehicles belonging to people who were consistently flouting traffic laws.
Presently the National Road Traffic Act makes this impossible.
“A proposal will also be put through council later this year to impose heftier fines on repeat offenders,” he said.
Masoek said when the system was launched there were over 750000 outstanding fines, but these have since been reduced by 250000.
Technical problems were making it difficult for the public contacted by the call centre to pay fines over the phone using their credit cards, but Masoek said this was being addressed.
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