Deputy Speaker, the reply is as follows. Yes, we had positive results after the 2012-13 financial year was declared The Year of the Detective. The following positive results have been recorded.
With regard to recruitment, in a drive to increase the total number of detectives, 479 who had previously been with the Detective Service but who were performing duties in other units of the SA Police Service were redeployed to the Detective Service. A total of 332 new recruits finished their Resolving of Crime Learning Programme in Graaff-Reinet and started their final integrated assessment in Oudtshoorn on 4 March. Madam Deputy Speaker, 192 new recruits are busy with their field training after completing the basic police training and will report for training in the detective work programme on 8 April 2013.
With regard to training, a total of R42 million was allocated to the training of detectives. Furthermore, 1 842 officers attended the Resolving of Crime Learning Programme course, 871 attended the Basic Crime Investigative Practice course and 1 702 were trained in specialised areas. I won't mention all of them because the list is very long and, Deputy Speaker, I will table the response.
With regard to resourcing of detectives, 18 additional posts were allocated to provinces from Head Office Detective Service to capacitate 130 detective court case officers at 116 courts throughout the country.
Every court where such a detective court case officer was placed was provided with a vehicle to be utilised by SAPS members in emergencies, for example to collect reports that are urgently needed by the courts. A total of 21 000 laptops were purchased and distributed. Also, 338 new vehicles were purchased for detective service centres, to be utilised for crime scene investigations, attending to newly reported cases and visiting crime scenes. These vehicles are marked "Crime Scene Investigation" and are fitted with blue lights, sirens and a public address system.
Additionally, 810 refrigerators were purchased and distributed to detective units at station level for those who are focusing on the sexual offences units in order for them to be able to preserve exhibits, whilst 1 350 cooler boxes were purchased and distributed in order to transport these exhibits to laboratories. I will table the response for all these.
On the successes, Madam Deputy Speaker...
Order! The hon Minister's time has expired.
I will table the response, Deputy Speaker.
Ke a leboga mme Motlatsa Mmusakgotla le rre Tona ka karabo e e manontlhotlho eo. [Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Minister, I welcome your brilliant response.]
In support of the Year of the Detective, Parliament adopted the Detective Dialogue report and recommendations. Amongst those is the review of the rank and promotion policy for detectives. Since we are reaching the six months deadline, please indicate whether any attention has been given to this aspect and what progress has been made thus far.
Ke a leboga. [Thank you.]
Deputy Speaker, my understanding on the issue of the rank and file is that, yes, we do lose skills, but we lose these skills to the rest of the Police Service. So, it is not a net loss to the Police Service, because detectives are trained in a specialised way.
What is being done at the moment is that the department and the Ministry are looking at whether there could be a specific dispensation for detectives in order to address the concern raised by the members. Thank you.
Deputy Speaker, I'm quite sure this Minister must have noticed, as the world has, that we have seen a senior SAPS officer show his incompetency in securing a crime scene prior to the arrival of the forensic teams. Similarly, we've had judges before the Portfolio Committee on Police explaining to us how a poorly presented case affects matters. Well, basically they explained how cases are botched in court because SAPS members seem incapable of presenting forensic evidence.
In the light of the incompetency raised by the judges and seen by us, I want to know if the Minister of Police has instituted an investigation similar to the one we have just heard about.
Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order: Can the member just indicate to this House who these judges are, because I can't remember any judge before the committee.
Deputy Speaker, I can't help any member's failing memory! [Interjections.]
I would like to know if the Minister of Police has instituted a national investigation into this and what the outcome of that investigation is, as you seem to know a great deal more about these investigations than the portfolio committee does. If he hasn't, could you explain to us why he has not instituted such an investigation? Thank you. [Applause.]
Deputy Speaker, I'm not sure when the committee summoned judges to appear before it, but on the issue you are raising, of contamination of the crime scene, the steps the department is taking are training, training and training. That's the only way we can ensure that it done right. We have shown you the figures regarding how many of these detectives are trained in different spheres and specialised fields, including the forensic field. We trained no fewer than 170 of these officers last year in this field. Thank you very much.
Deputy Speaker, through you to the hon Minister, I am not sure whether the people who prepared your answer looked at the question. [Interjections.] The question is what positive results there are, and I thought you would talk about the capacity to detect, that is, the conviction rate. I thought you would talk about how they finish cases as soon as possible to make sure that there is no backlog. But you didn't talk about that; you talked about vehicles and all those other things. Can you please tell us the answer to the question?
Deputy Speaker, I thank the hon Mluleki George. The successes are as follows.
Firstly, because of the training and capacitation, in the third quarter of last year 97 convictions were secured in the Western Cape alone. This was also because of the work of the forensic social workers who were deployed in that area. Out of those, 11 life sentences were secured.
Secondly, 3 185 arrests were effected through the information provided to the Crime Stop system.
Thirdly, the total number of stock recovered at the end of December last year was 41 000, at an estimated value of about R228 million.
A total of 573 life sentences had been recorded up to December last year.
The number of persons who were on the wanted list which was circulated decreased from 28 000 to about 23 000. So, these are some of the successes we have had.
In addition to that, the national investigation task team to deal with cross-border crimes between the provinces has assisted much in this regard, where the detectives work in a co-operative manner with the national task team. We can give you specific results for that.
So, there have been many successes and we can count them, on and on - it's a booklet, hon George! Thank you. [Applause.]
Position regarding calls by government for the return of Professor Karabus
3. Mrs C Dudley (ACDP) asked the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation:
Whether the Government has called upon the authorities in Abu Dhabi to immediately return Professor Karabus to South Africa; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?