Intelligence needed to solve rampant crime

Martin van Staden / Midjourney
Martin van Staden / Midjourney

This article was first published on Business Brief in the Oct/Nov 2024 issue

South Africa’s crime statistics are just the tip of the iceberg, as failing police competency and capacity, coupled with generalised apathy guarantee that there are far more crimes taking place than merely reported.

The first quarter of 2024/2025 saw more than 6000 murders, over 11 500 sexual offences, and over 9000 rapes. When one contemplates that these are likely conservative estimates, and just a small glimpse at the true stat, this country reveals itself as a true horror show.

We need to solve our rampant crime by any means necessary. The government need to abandon its ideological meddling and misguided social engineering and put everything else aside to ensure that its people are safe from the criminals running wild in our society.

But increased police budgets and vague assurances will not accomplish this incredibly important goal. We need an intelligent approach to solving the scourge of criminality in this country.

Solve crimes

Soon after 1994, the ANC embarked on a misguided campaign of meddling with law enforcement. This involved gutting the police of its ability to solve crimes. Detectives were stripped of their independence and brought under the control of politically appointed bureaucrats who repeatedly meddle with their cases.

“Visible policing” and the wildly popular idea that criminality is 100% linked to socio-economic factors led policymakers to downgrade the importance of detective-work. This led to many detectives resigning or being forced to leave due to racial quotas and growing corruption. Skilled, veteran detectives devoted to solving crimes were alienated, as they did not fit the ideological purity test of their superiors.

To fix this sin, we must reinstate the independence of detectives. Detectives should function independently from police, with their own hierarchy that values creative thinking, intelligence and investigation over brute force and mass patrolling.

Intelligence solves crimes, putting criminals behind bars, and dissuading potential criminals from committing crimes.

Snitches earn riches

Informants are of tantamount importance to breaking up criminal cartels, gangs and networks. Criminals are greedy opportunists at heart, and flipping members of syndicates to inform on their comrades not only gives law enforcement much needed intel that can lead to convictions, but also erodes trust and stability within the syndicates themselves.

If a gang cannot trust its own members, it will begin to rot away at the seams. And as gangs fall apart, much of the violent crime that affects our local communities will fade with them.

A vast network of informants and snitches should become a fundamental strategy of law enforcement.

Decentralise

It is lunacy to expect a single police organisation to be able to handle the entirety of South Africa. In the United States every city, county, and locality has its own autonomous police force that works with the federal police force and other police forces if necessary – we should adopt this model for South Africa.

Municipalities should maintain their own police forces, drawing from local and national budgets. A locally maintained police force has a higher likelihood of being accountable to its local community and has less likelihood of being infected with corruption and incompetence from a centralised, national police hierarchy.

Depoliticise

The police need to be non-political; police appointments need to have no connection to national political parties. I would go as far as ensuring that the Minister of Police become a position appointed by police themselves, and not one appointed by the president. Station commanders should be elected by their local community and be banned from being members of any political party.

Racial quotas, BEE, and irrelevant ideological meddling must not factor into any part of the police process. Police must be recruited on merit alone and promotions must be based on experience and accomplishment. Not political connection.

When possible, the police should lean on private enterprise to help with law enforcement. Private security already provides much needed patrolling in many parts of the country, and police can ease much more of their workload if they deregulate and enable private security to accomplish more police duties.

Decriminalise

The police must be allowed to focus on genuine crimes, and not become bogged down in the enforcement of non-genuine crimes that the government has imposed due to over meddling and an ignorance of the justice system.

The Section 12 Criminalisation Index should be used to judge present legislation and remove laws that distract police from focusing on genuine crimes.

Conclusion

South Africa can solve much of our rampant crime. We must have the political will to allow law enforcement to do its job, unhindered by ignorant politicians. If we can free the police of the shackles of meddlesome policy makers, we will go a long way to solving our crime and protecting the South African people.

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The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Foundation. This article may be republished without prior consent but with acknowledgement to the author.

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