DA says allowing CT metro police to probe criminal cases will speed up processing of ballistic evidence

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said allowing the Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department to investigate criminal cases will create an opportunity for faster processing of ballistic evidence.

The party has been calling for the devolution of police powers, saying that it will help in the fight against gun and gang violence in Cape Town.

There’s been an uptick in gang violence in the city recently, with shootings, often fatal, being reported daily.

Just this week, ten people were shot at, at the Nyanga taxi rank.

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police Ian Cameron said the city and the province have done a lot of work to develop forensic capacity.

“My major concern or my main concern is the fact that at the moment, the opportunity is kind of constantly either put on ice or it's just shut down. And to be honest, as they say, nothing changes if nothing changes. If we don't choose something different, we'll never know whether it can work.”

Cameron said many criminal cases are often postponed due to evidence not being processed on time.

“Firearm-related cases see postponements due to forensic reports not having been completed. And eventually, the case is struck, and the alleged criminal is free to go. So, this would be an opportunity for that not to happen if we are able to process certain things quicker and make sure that the relevant boxes are ticked. Then it would mean a better success.”

He added that the city and province have the resources to help make more arrests

“At the moment, convictions on firearm-related offences are likely lower than 5% and if not lower, recently or about a year or two ago, it was less than that. I think we can increase that substantially. With the correct intelligence structures in place, you could certainly start targeting kingpins.”

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