By now, everybody has heard the names Bheki Cele and Ian Cameron. The South African Police Service plays a vital role in South Africa, not just among South Africans but also among people looking to invest in this country.
But first, I need to address the elephant in the room: load shedding. I heard our President announce that he and his staff will get the generators back online and bring this load shedding spree to an end. Now, I might not be fully up to date with all the regulations at Eskom, but I am sure that none of the people he was referring to had permission to go into an electricity generating facility without a responsible, qualified person in attendance.
So how are they going to restore the generating capacity? Will they remove the limitations he placed on the CEO as to who he can employ? Will they remove the restrictions placed on the CEO as to where he can procure items like solar panels? Are they going to improve the schooling system? Are they going to improve the efficiency of SAPS to curtail corruption? The answer will undoubtedly be fascinating.
Now, back to SAPS. I had the misfortune of having my mobile phone – with my driver’s licence secreted inside its cover – stolen in Mall of Africa’s Woolworths store. After alerting my mobile service provider, I headed off to the police station to register the theft.
At the police station in Midrand, the officer behind the desk initially tried to ignore me, but the other people in the queue assured him that I was next in line. I completed the affidavit, and the officer put his seal on the document and dismissed me. Then I got to thinking: what value did the officer at the police station bring to the incident? He did not keep any record of the theft, so no possible action could result from this case.
In another incident a couple of months ago, a person in his car hit us from behind while we were stationary at a red traffic light. We went to the police station, where I completed a full paper-based report, and the police officer gave me a case number. My handwritten version then had to go through a transformation process to make it available within the SAPS database. Once again, I see no value added by the officer on duty except for the case number he gave me – nothing that a computer cannot generate.
In yet another incident (a bumper bash at an Engen on the N1 South), after the guilty party exchanged their contact details as well as the case number and contact details of the insurance company with the victim, the highway police arrived. It seemed that the victim, who received a scratch on his car’s bumper, wanted cash from the guilty party and did not want to get insurance involved. Lo and behold, the traffic officers then tried to convince the guilty party to ‘negotiate’ and pay cash instead of leaving it up to the guilty party’s insurance.
Automation to the rescue
Here’s a thought: Replace the reporting at police stations with a computer-based program to store data in a safe location – in this way, no records are lost and reporting is possible immediately. Populate these offices with clerical staff and computers so that people who do not have access to the Internet can log incidents, and also link these offices to relevant specialist support staff who can assist in emergencies, such as psychiatrists, doctors and even police, if necessary. In this way, the police officers on duty become available to investigate serious crimes.
As powerful a tool as automation is, I guess in the case of both the bumper bashing and Ian Cameron incidents, it still would not quite be able to compensate for the lack of integrity, interpersonal skills or knowledge. After all, automation cannot fix everything!
Yours in automation
Johan Maartens
| Tel: | +27 11 312 2445 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
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