Solidarity warns police detective services 'heading for disaster'
The Solidarity Research Institute has
sounded the alarm over the state of the country’s detective services - warning
the SAPS division’s heading for disaster.
Hundreds of detectives took part in the institute’s study that examined their working conditions.
The majority of SAPS members said they were unhappy.
Researcher, Theuns du Buisson says not only are detectives overwhelmed with cases, but they’re also having to share limited resources - which in turn delays progress in investigations.
He says detectives also mentioned they lack essential forensic equipment such as gloves, fingerprint powder and DNA sampling sticks to do their job.
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Du Buisson says SAPS management needs to act swiftly to address these issues.
"Some detectives are sitting with 500 or more cases in front of them and you can only work with one at a time, so at any given moment hundreds of cases are being neglected and it's not at any fault of that detective.
"The end result is that they lose motivation, fall into depression, anxiety and ultimately leave the police force."
