DA: Heavy caseload of WC detectives a threat to justice

CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape said that the SAPS caseload crisis faced by provincial detectives was a threat to justice.

 

In a recent provincial parliament reply, SAPS revealed that the average caseload per detective in the Western Cape stands at 111.

 

This is almost double the best-practice benchmark of 60.

 

The DA said that this untenable workload was undermining the ability of detectives to properly investigate cases.

 

The party's Benedicta van Minnen said that even more alarming was that 14 police precincts had detectives managing 200 or more dockets each.

She added that this was unsustainable and poses a direct threat to community safety.

 

"The SAPS management is setting detectives up for failure by overloading them with impossible caseloads. A detective who is expected to manage over 100 dockets cannot deliver quality investigations that lead to successful prosecutions. This directly undermines justice for victims and emboldens criminals."