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| NEWS > 25 February 2008 |
Other related articles:
UK: Police employee jailed for
A civilian police worker at Scotland Yard has been jailed for eight months for leaking confidential details on terrorism to a newspaper.
Thomas Lund-Lack, 59, who was working in the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit, disclosed a document to a Sunday Times journalist.
An article in April said Iraq-based al-Qaeda leaders were planning UK terror attacks.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office.
'Sadness'
Sentencing Lund-lack, a retired detective inspector, Mr Justice Gross said: "Disclosure of this nature shou... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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The Times - Johannesburg,Gaute
25 February 2008
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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S.A.P.S
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South Africa: Police shortage
Law enforcement officers found guilty of committing fraud are given a fine and kept on the beat
SOUTH Africa’s dirty cops are keeping their jobs despite being caught breaking the law. And the shocking excuse given by their bosses for this situation is the chronic shortage of policemen.
As the country reels under one of the highest crime rates in the world, these guilty cops continue to patrol the streets because there is nobody to fill their boots.
According to police watchdog, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), criminal activity by policemen increased by 8% last year.
It has also emerged that more than 1000 policemen were arrested and charged during a special investigation into social grant fraud totalling R5.1-million.
While many of them have pleaded guilty and paid R1000 admission of guilt fines, they are still at work pending internal disciplinary procedures.
An inside source, who is privy to the case files in KwaZulu-Natal, said at least 400 South African Police Service officers and clerks were arrested and charged for defrauding the state. “They are still awaiting disciplinary action to inform them officially that they have been charged.”
The source said that the cases were to be sent to the SAPS head office for a directive and, as a result of the shortage of policemen in the country, senior members were hoping that the officers would be given a final written warning, allowing them to keep their jobs.
The retention of these corrupt cops has sparked outrage.
Dianne Kohler-Barnard, the Democratic Alliance’s spokesman on Safety and Security, called for crooked cops to be given the boot.
“Fire them, fire them, fire them ... There should be no such nonsense as civil servants paying back money they have stolen.
“If they are the criminals, then who is guarding us?
“I can’t tell you how depressing it is to hear that the very people, who we regard as the beacons of honour in our country are actually corrupt.
“Corruption starts at the top. The fact that our national police commissioner is on a paid holiday until his trial, is testament to this. If corruption starts at the top, one can only expect it to filter to the lower ranks. It is absolutely infuriating that cops are breaking the law,” she said.
Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip Koos van der Merwe said putting dirty cops back on the streets was “absolute nonsense”.
“If you are caught with your fingers in the cookie jar, you say sorry, pay a fine and get back out there. That encourages people to commit crime.”
However, chairman of the national Anti-Corruption Forum and Minister of Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser- Moleketi, defended the fact that the cops were on the beat.
“I think the mere fact that disciplinary steps are in the process of being taken is a major step forward. The fact that they have paid fines is a further step. I think we want to laud those steps.
“We will say that probably there should be no tolerance. But we must remember, if you want to correct people, it is not only through punitive measures. You need to take developmental measures, where we are saying if this is a first offence you will get a fine.
“However, if it occurs again, we are not going to tolerate it. Nobody, if they are consciously doing something, wants to get caught out.
“If they are upright citizens, this is something that will really shame them. The fines are a deterrent, as far as I am concerned.”
Van der Merwe labelled the ICD a “lame duck”, adding that an independent investigation unit needed to be established to probe corruption within police ranks.
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The ICD’s anti-corruption force has a dedicated staff of only three investigators for the entire country.
Special Investigations Unit (SIU) head Willie Hofmeyr confirmed that 1070 policemen were arrested, after Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya ordered the unit to investigate the corruption, fraud and maladministration that plagued the social grant system.
The SIU, an independent statutory body, was established by former President Nelson Mandela in 1996 to probe corruption matters.
Andile Sokomani, a researcher based at the Institute for Security Studies’ corruption and governance programme, said: “When something like this happens, then the whole law enforcement that we hope we have in terms of social welfare crimes crumbles.
“The question, in this case, is who is going to investigate the investigators? It looks like there is a need for us to have another oversight body over the police, but who is going to do that?
“That is the function of the ICD but it is not working because they are terribly under-resourced.”
Professor Danny Titus, head of Transparency South Africa, said: “Corruption is eating away our democracy ... We can’t have these wonderful documents and laws, and not implement them.
“Here we have an opportunity to seriously discipline these people, and still we are acting with kid gloves.”
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