“Victims deserve more than policy promises. They deserve a system that works.”
This according Ian Cameron, Chairperson on the Portfolio Committee on Police.
Cameron made this remark shortly after his colleague Nicholas Gotsell, representative on the Judicial Services Commission, led an unannounced oversight visit to the Worcester Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) on Thursday (21 May).
Cameron says in a Facebook post that FCS units are supposed to be specialist police units dealing with family violence, child protection and sexual offences.
According to him these are some of the most sensitive cases in the criminal justice system, including child rape, sexual offences, abuse, abduction and serious crimes against vulnerable victims.
“What was found at Worcester raises serious questions about how the police is managing and resourcing this specialist function.
“Worcester FCS serves 10 police stations. The furthest is Laingsburg, approximately 175 km away. The unit is also expected to deal with assault-related matters across all 10 stations, while still carrying responsibility for child rape, sexual offences and serious child protection investigations.
The unit has seven vehicles in total, but that includes everything available to them. One of those vehicles is a single-cab vehicle, which is not suitable for transporting victims, especially vulnerable victims and children.
“The staffing situation is just as concerning. For five of the stations served by Worcester FCS, there are only three members per shift. For the other five stations, there is only one member per shift.”
Cameron says it was also indicated that the unit received no meaningful additional support last year. According to him this is not sustainable.
He says Gotsell has correctly raised the concern that, across rural areas such as the Boland and Overberg, FCS investigators are being required to travel long distances for assault and domestic violence-related matters that may, in appropriate cases, be better handled by local detectives or designated domestic violence officers.
According to him the issue is not that these matters are unimportant. He says they are important.
“The issue is that the police appears to have expanded the workload of specialist FCS units without giving them the people, vehicles and support needed to do the job properly.
“Every hour an FCS investigator spends travelling hundreds of kilometres on a matter that could be handled locally is an hour not spent on a child rape docket, a sexual offence investigation, a forensic interview, court preparation, victim support or suspect tracing.”
Cameron says if Worcester FCS is expected to cover 10 stations, including one 175 km away, then police leadership must explain how this model is supposed to work in practice.
“We will be asking the police leadership to account for the current FCS mandate, the docket load at Worcester FCS, vehicle availability, staffing per shift, rural travel demands and whether appropriate matters can be decentralised back to station-level detectives.
“South Africa cannot say it prioritises women and children while specialist units are stretched so thin that they are forced to carry a broad general detective workload without the resources to match it.
“FCS must be properly resourced, properly focused and protected as a specialist investigative capability.”
An informed official also mentioned to Standard Breederivier Gazette a shortage of sexual assault evidence collection kits.
“This is a challenge and influences the delivery of vital services. Because of this shortage the waiting periods for victims are longer. The geographical isolation of the areas that are being served are not taken into account when it comes to this.
“Our people are not close to hospitals. Some have to drive far to hospitals only to find out there is no sexual assault evidence collection kit.
“It is difficult to do the kind of work that our people out there deserves.”
