TimesLIVE reports that an investigation of detective services in the Western Cape by the provincial community safety department has revealed that nearly half of SA Police Service (SAPS) detectives in the province have not had basic detective training.
MEC Albert Fritz said on Tuesday the investigation had identified serious shortcomings that were "deeply shocking". It was found that of the 2,785 detectives at 150 police stations in the Western Cape in the second half of 2017, 45.8% had not received basic training; 91.7% had not received specialised training; 88.2% had not been trained to investigate fraud; and 57% of detective commanders had not completed the requisite training. "Unfortunately, not only are there resource shortages and a lack of training among our detectives, but they are also completely overburdened," said Fritz. Half of the detectives had a caseload of more than 200 dockets each, when the norm should be 50-60. According to Fritz: "There is a shortage of 548 detectives in the Western Cape and 142 posts are vacant. The assessment further highlighted that there is a need to allocate an additional 443 posts to priority stations in the Western Cape. Without these detectives, conviction rates for gang-related crime will remain low."
- Read the full original of the report by Dave Chambers on the above story at TimesLIVE
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