Budget vote speech delivered by Minister for Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, MP, Ministry for Safety and Security, National Assembly

Madam Speaker
Honourable Members of the Extended Parliamentary Committee

Introduction

Africa Day

In the next three days many countries of the African Continent will celebrate Africa Day in commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Established in Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963, the OAU had as its central tasks the promotion of peace, unity and co-operation across the national borders of the Continent.

Some of the key elements of the principles of that unity were picked up by President Thabo Mbeki in his opening address at the launch in Durban, on 9 July 2002, of the African Union (AU) the successor of the OAU. He said, among other things:

"As Africans we have come to understand that there can be no sustainable development without peace, without security and without stability. We must end the senseless conflicts and wars on our continent which have caused so much pain and suffering to our people and turned many of them into refugees and displaced and forced others into exile. We must accept that dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts are the only way to guarantee enduring peace and stability for our people."

One of the key pillars of peace and stability is safety and security that all law abiding citizens of our country must design so that within that environment of security we can, as a nation, create conditions for a better life for all.

Community Policing

An important aspect of the work of the Ministry and the South African Police Service during the current Financial Year relates to pronouncements made earlier this year by President Mbeki. The President, in his State of the Nation Address to this House on Friday, 9 February 2007, pointed out that:

"I am certain that we shall all agree that working together to achieve the happiness that comes with freedom applies equally to the challenge of dealing with crime. In addition to the many ongoing programmes that we have been implementing, government will this year improve our analysis of crime trends to improve our performance with regard both to crime prevention and crime combating. In this regard, we must respond to the cold reality that, as in other countries, the overwhelming majority of violent crimes against the person occur in the most socio-economically deprived areas of our country and require strong and sustained community interventions focused on crime prevention."

"As we have already said, these and other measures will succeed only if we build an enduring partnership in actual practice within our communities and between the communities and the police, to make life more difficult for the criminals. Government will play its part to ensure that these partnership actually work and that we all act together to discharge the responsibility to protect our citizens."

The President's theme was lifted up by the Minister of Finance when, in his Budget Speech, he said: "Our government recognises the seriousness of the crime situation and will continue to provide leadership in the fight against crime. But, effective crime fighting depends on partnerships between our law enforcement agencies and communities."

The marching orders were quite clear: Build partnerships with relevant stakeholders in crime prevention and combating to reduce the levels of crime in South Africa. The President's remarks were informed by his appreciation of the principle that no police force or service can deal effectively with crime if it does not enjoy the support of the masses in the communities they police. In the end, it is not the size of the police service that will guarantee success in the fight against crime but the ability of the police to forge a viable relationship with the people to prevent and combat crime.

Those are the principles that will guide us as we implement our philosophy of community policing. There are different ways in which community policing has been defined by various commentators and experts. I personally like the way that Anneke Osse looks at the matter. Osse works for Amnesty International. She worked for many years as a trainer and management consultant for the Dutch police in the field of ethics, corruption prevention and human rights. Her definition is: "Community policing is in fact geographic policing where police officers have a 24-hour responsibility for policing their locality. Often community policing means maximal policing in that it assumes a greater responsibility for the police than mere crime fighting. Indeed, police are expected to support overall community well-being and residents' quality of life."

It requires a deliberate rooting of the police among the people for them to be able to work in the communities in the way that is described by Osse. It requires a deliberate programme of co-ordination to establish a viable partnership between the people and the police. In the early years of our democracy, it was difficult to build confidence between the people and the police. Things are much better now. However, we need to build a strong partnership that will raise the level of trust between the people and the police.

Partnerships

Community policing as an appropriate policing philosophy for South Africa has been discussed with several stakeholders and has been endorsed. We have discussed the matter with the labour movement. Meetings have been held with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) and Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa), the three labour federations that mobilise workers in our country. We have also interacted with the two unions that work in the police, the South African Police Union (SAPU) and Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru).

We appreciate the interest shown and the commitment by the labour movement to the project. We believe, therefore, that the partnership with them will buttress our effort to curb crime in our country. We have also interacted with religious leaders, especially at the level of the National Religious Leaders Forum, as part of the programme to mobilise our people in all our communities to be part of law enforcement to create conditions for security and stability in South Africa.

Our relationship with the business sector under the leadership of the Presidential Big Business Working Group is getting stronger and stronger. We have regular sessions where we strategise and decisions we have taken collectively have already made a dent against crime and criminality in certain areas.

One of the important sections of business, the private security industry, has come into the loop of partners in the fight against crime. We have been holding talks with them to determine how, working together in partnership, we can share information and resources. The talks are progressing well. The matter of private security was among key issues the President raised in his State of the Nation Address. He said: "the increase in the incidence of particular crimes during the security workers' strike should have brought home to all of us the fact that the security industry cannot be handled simply as a private affair of the private sector. Quite clearly the regulatory system that we have in place is inadequate. This applies to such issues as wage levels, personnel vetting systems, enforcement of guidelines on cash-delivery vehicles, and so on."

"This is a matter that we shall review during the course of the year so that, in addition to improving the work of the police, we can together with the private security industry create an environment in which the security expectations of the public, in which huge resources are expended, are actually met."

The partnership we have with some of our communities deserves special mention. In the many communities where the people work together with the police the levels of crime have gone down. Apart from patrolling their streets, the people have also established networks to generate and share information. That information has been given to the police and has helped to enhance investigations.

The experience of good partnerships between the people and the police has become a feature in the communities of Alexandra, Sebokeng, Orange Farm, Orlando and Jabulani in the Gauteng province, Gugulethu, Maitland and Khayelitsha, in the Western Cape, Fernie and Kwaggafontein, in Mpumalanga, Tumahole, in the Free State, Tsolo and Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape, Kuruman, in Northern Cape, Ezibayeni, Osizweni and Kokstad, in KwaZulu-Natal, Giyani, in Limpopo, just to mention a small sample.

The Community Policing Forum (CPF) has a special task to co-ordinate the relationship between the communities and the police. We are discussing, together with them, how we can raise their profile so that they can play the role that attaches to their functions.

The new arrangement will allow the CPFs, acting on behalf of the communities, to discuss with the police the policing priorities of the relevant communities and put together a policing programme that will be co-owned by the communities and the police. The police will regularly go back to the communities and report on the crime trends in their areas and to what extent they are succeeding to deal with crime. The communities, in that arrangement, will assess police performance on the basis of the policing priorities and targets that are set in the implementation of the policing programme.

Legal implications

The project to introduce community policing will require some changes to our law. In the first instance, we need to look at how we define the relationship between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the municipal police services. In that regard, I want to indicate that it is not our intention to change the administrative relationship and, therefore, legal links, between the municipal police services and their municipalities.

We are only looking at crime prevention and the alignment of all forces that participate therein, including municipal police structures. The alignment is meant for better command and control.

The establishment and location of the CPFs is part of the South African Police Service Act. The responsibility to establish and resource the CPFs is given to the police. It is quite clear that, if the CPFs, for all intents and purposes, are a form of oversight they should not be defined in the way they are currently. They should, by definition and action, be a structure that is representative of the communities and speak on their behalf. To get to that point, we must amend the SAPS Act.

Crime prevention and combating

Resource Allocation

The project to prevent and combat crime has resulted, since 1995 when the South African Police Service was formed, in the allocation of increased numbers of human and material resources. Particular attention over the years has also been paid to the revision of conditions of service for members for better packages in remuneration and other benefits.

Our budget allocation in the 2003/04 Financial Year was R22,7 billion which went up in 2004/05 (R25,4 billion), 2005/06 (R29,3 billion) and 2006/07 (R32,5 billion). The current allocation is R35,9 billion and three years down the line, it will be R43,6 billion.

The personnel numbers in the service also rose from 140 560 in 2003/04 to 149 060 (2004/05), 156 060 (2005/06) and 163 060 (2006/07). By the end of the 2009/10 Financial Year the numbers will be 193 240. The expansion of the service, therefore, has been by 44 060 members since the 2002/03. Replacement personnel during that period was 20 000 bringing the figure, therefore, to 64 060.

Challenges

There are many challenges we face in the fight against crime. They are huge magnified by, among other things, the long list of victims of crime; people we sympathise with in every respect of the word and the sole reason we have to find answers quickly in our effort effectively to deal with crime and criminality in our country. To that extent we have to get the police to perform optimally by giving them the best training available for policing in the globalised environment of crime fighting, especially in the fields of management (administrative and operationally) and investigation and arrests, as well as in crime intelligence.

We have put processes in place to deal with all the matters I have raised and consistent and regular implementation will help us attain the goals we have set for ourselves. One of the matters we are dealing with is the violent nature of crime in South Africa. The question has been popping up now and again why some of the crimes are accompanied by such a high degree of violence.

Firearms are used in many instances where serious and violent crime happens. In more than 50% cases where people were murdered, firearms were used. A study of the last ten years also indicates that firearms were used in 77,6% cases of attempted murder and 81,5% of aggravated robbery.

We appointed last year, in an effort to get an answer to the high volumes of violence in crime in South Africa, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) to interrogate the question. The overall project is intended to assist government to understand the phenomenon so that we can prevent and combat it.

The project consists of six components which are to be staggered over the next 18 months. The final report will be available in December 2008. The first component of the project is a concept paper on the violent nature of crime in our country and is due for submission to the Minister for Safety and Security by the end of this month. The paper discusses the main forms of violence, especially social violence which accounts for much of the violent crime in the country.

The study will also be an analysis of the socio-economic factors that contribute to violent crime and case studies on perpetrators of violent crime. The Deputy Minister for Safety and Security, Ms Susan Shabangu, is going to deal with some aspects of social crime and the violence that relates to it.

Budget overview

The core function of the police is to stop crime from happening. It is a proactive function where visible policing is the key. Visible policing is divided into crime prevention, borderline security and specialised interventions. The biggest slice of the R15,5 billion that goes to visible policing is for crime prevention (R13,7 billion). This signifies a 92% growth in the budget from 2003/04 to 2009/10.

Personnel expenditure continues to be the biggest portion of the budget at R25,2 billion from R35,9 billion during the current Financial Year. The wage bill (salary, pension, bonus, etc) recognises that the personnel numbers shall have reached 173 120 by the end of the Financial Year.

We need to indicate that over the past three Financial Years the allocated budget for policing has increased by 43%. Expenditure for other material resources in the policing environment such as buildings, machinery and equipment has also seen significant increases. More money was invested in the further expansion of the vehicle fleet, radio communication, information technology, firearms and the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. Expenditure on capital assets, therefore, has increased by 33% over the past three years and will rise by 75% over the next three years.

To enhance our command and control systems we are going to invest in the next three years in mobile command vehicles and helicopters that will be fitted with modern technology. We will buy three such vehicles in the current Financial Year at a cost of R13,5 million as well as four helicopters for R20,2 million. In the next Financial Year (2008/09) we will buy five mobile command vehicles and seven helicopters for R22,5 million and R36 million, respectively and, in the outer Financial Year (2009/10) we will buy two mobile command vehicles for R9 million. We will add to that, for R90 million, three surveillance aircraft. We will also buy in the current Financial Year 200 mobile circuit camera television CCTV systems.

Supply chain management

The budget allocation in respect of capital works, maintenance, property rates, municipal services and property leases was R1,627 billion in 2006/2007 but stands at R2,045 billion for the current period. The SAPS currently has 1 115 fully fledged police station and 186 satellites. The 27 stations that are in a poor state of repair will be refurbished and upgraded during the current Financial Year. We upgraded 19 in the last Financial Year. During 2006/07 we built 11 police stations. Four more will be built during 2007/08 while an additional three will be built in the next Financial Year.

Twelve new police stations were opened in the last quarter of 2006/07. During the current period 15 more will be opened. The building of the R300 million Forensic Science Laboratory in Parow will commence during this Financial Year. A new Digital Trunk Radio Network for Gauteng province, incorporating the Tetra System, at a cost of R600 million, has been established. It will be switched on during October this year. The facility, which will provide overall coverage throughout the province, will facilitate better communications for users on all roads, sports stadia, shopping centres and government installations.

The system is comprised of secure communication and automated vehicle location (AVL) elements. It is a sophisticated mechanism for operational purposes. It creates accurate and real time command and control to response vehicles and other information channels. The AVL will provide SAPS dispatching officials with location and positioning updates that are transmitted in real time to geo-spatial mapping facilities so that more informed decisions can be made about deployments to scenes of crime.

The vehicle fleet of the SAPS has been modernised and increased. In 2003 SAPS had 27 055 vehicles. The figure currently is 37 617. Police stations that have been built in the recent period have victim friendly facilities for the victims of sexual offences. There are at present 594 such facilities across the country. The personnel who render services there are mostly volunteers from the various levels of medical care and social services in South Africa. They are doing a wonderful job.

Reorganisation for better delivery

Last year we invoked the principle of pushing more and better resources to the local police station to arm those at the coal-face in the fight against crime with the requisite capacity to be able to do their work.

In the circumstances, experienced operational managers and personnel from forty-three area offices in the nine provinces as well as from the national and provincial offices, where necessary, were redeployed to police stations to boost the administrative and operational managerial ability of the stations and increase the staff complement.

In the past the specialised investigative capability of SAPS was not based at police stations. The members were based at area offices and travelled long distances at times to reach stations where relevant crimes were reported. The response times, therefore, were very slow. Those members have been redeployed to police stations to reduce the response times and create the possibility of better service delivery.

The majority of members attached to the former Area Crime-Combating Units (ACCUs) have been shifted to police stations. The upshot has been a real increase in the crime-combating capacity of police stations. A programme is in place to train on a continuous basis members at police stations to improve their ability to perform crime-combating functions in their respective station precincts.

The restructuring provided for the clustering of police stations for improved command, control and co-ordination. Cluster police stations will be able to unite in joint projects to deal with cross-station precinct crimes and threats. The biggest station in the cluster is the accounting police station. The support structures at these stations will also replace the previous area support offices. In the end there will be 198 accounting police stations. A computerised performance measurement system was introduced within the SAPS to assess and evaluate police performance.

New technology to fight crime

Over the past five years, the department has focused on the modernisation and expansion of its response service, command and control, hosting capabilities and network infrastructure. Among other things we managed to achieve the following:

1. Accessibility to information systems was enhanced by approximately 120%, from 19 000 desktop workstations in 1995/96 to 42 000 in 2007.
2. Satellite capabilities were established at police stations situated in the rural areas.
3. A Crime Intelligence and Information Analysis Solution was procured to boost the police crime intelligence capabilities and assist investigators to identify, analyse, consolidate and understand complex sets of seemingly unrelated data. The system has helped to facilitate intelligence processing, criminal investigations and preparations for court appearances.
4. In co-operation with other government departments the Ports of Entry Technology Committee has implemented a strategy aimed at aligning all information processes to the dictates of the Minimum Information Security Standard. To give effect to that objective, 29 integrated information technology rooms were established in 2006/07.
5. A Genetic Sample-processing System has been installed in the Forensic Science Laboratory. That system, together with the DNA manual system, is used to perform DNA examinations.
6. A comprehensive but cost-effective Electronic Content Management Solution (ECMS), known as Documentum, was purchased to facilitate the creation of electronic dockets (e-Docket), among other things. The system enables the scanning of dockets, which will prevent the loss of information due to docket losses. A pilot e-docket project was launched successfully at the Cullinan Police Station. Other stations are earmarked for the further testing of the system during the current Financial Year.
7. A Biometric Identification and Enhancement Solutions capability was established within the Criminal Record Centre, to deal with biometrics. It will be easier, using the system, to identify criminals.

Hi-Tech project centre

We established at the end of last year a Hi-Tech Project Centre, to satisfy the need for a better co-ordinated approach to crime information and the utilisation of available skills and technology. The consequence of that approach is the easy access by investigators to all relevant information which they have used successfully to oppose bail, identify suspects, apprehend wanted persons, know the status of suspects (whether in custody or not) and link cases to one another.

The centre has been used as a platform to test new technologies such as the Layered Voice Analysis (a stress analysis of verbal communications similar to the traditional polygraph test) and a pilot project on facial recognition, where images of suspects and crime scenes are analysed with a view positively to identify wanted persons.

We have used the centre in recent times on organised aggravated robberies, including cash-in-transit heists, bank robberies, break-ins at financial institutes, Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) explosions, aggravated robberies at shopping malls, petroleum stations, casinos, pension pay-out points and the hi-jacking of trucks with freight. We are also paying special attention to house and business robberies and vehicle hijacking.

In the relatively short period that we have been using the centre a number of successes have been achieved, including the following:

* Linkages to outstanding warrants of arrest for the 'Mtubatuba 26,' arrested in KwaZulu-Natal at a toll-gate after committing two cash-in-transit heists at the end of 2006.
* linking to outstanding cases the 21 suspects who were apprehended in Inyibiba, Eastern Cape, in February this year and charged with conspiracy to commit robbery. They were found in possession of AK 47 rifles, other firearms, grenades, documentation, maps and entry codes indicating that they were planning to rob a cash-in-transit armoured vehicle. This case is currently before court. The suspects were denied bail.
* The arrest of nine suspects in Villa Nora, Limpopo, where four security guards were burnt to death in their armoured vehicle.
* Using the Layered Voice Analysis System during the interrogation of the suspect in the recent murder case of Sheldean Human, seven, in Pretoria.

Operations and successes on contact crimes

In the endeavours of the South African Police Service to address the scourge of serious and violent crime, various integrated strategies were adopted. In July 2006, a specific strategy was adopted for all provinces. The emphasis was on arresting perpetrators wanted for murder, attempted murder, rape, aggravated (armed) robberies and vehicle hijacking. The strategy included executing warrants of arrest for repeat offenders and suspects identified from crime scene investigations, connected to three or more cases.

Competent tracing teams were established to focus on the wanted suspects. Subsequently, 8 536 suspects were arrested, involved in 10 292 serious and violent criminal cases.

Other serious crime

We have established a dedicated permanent capacity in the police, referred to as the Investigative Psychology Unit, to address other serious contact crimes like serial murder and rape cases. The unit has a world-renowned record in profiling and solving such cases.

Cases that were taken to trial include the case of the RDP strangler, for four murders in Limpopo, the Highwayman case, for five murders in Pretoria, the Johannesburg Mine Dump murder of seven, and the arrests of the Philippi Serial Murderer, in Cape Town, where 16 people were killed while four others were raped, the Spider Valley serial murderer who killed three people in Vereeniging, the Siloam Serial Murderer, responsible for 12 deaths in Limpopo, the Barberton Serial Murderer who killed five people, the Mhluzi serial murderer who killed five people in Middelburg, the Knysna Serial Murderer responsible for two deaths, the Tonga serial murderer of five, the Volksrust Serial Murderer of three, the Quarry Serial Murderer of 16 in Centurion, and the Moffat Park serial murderer who had five murder victims in Johannesburg.

Crime intelligence

The Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Police Service continues to enjoy a high degree of respect within the world's intelligence community. This has to do with its ability to generate respectable intelligence that has been shared with other intelligence agencies in the world. Significant successes have been achieved against narcotics trafficking, with increases in seizures and arrests both within communities and at Ports of Entry.

The challenge to combat better the increasing internationalisation of narcotics trafficking between the continents of South America, Europe, Asia and Africa is also being successfully addressed through better trans-national intelligence projects.

Cyberspace crime or "e-crime", as it is often called, has become a big challenge. The crime is globalised and has the potential to undermine in a massive way the economies of many countries. It has been placed within the sights of the SAPS Crime Intelligence.

Firearms Control

The loss of firearms continues to be a serious problem in our country. Between 1 July 2004 and 31 March this year, 40 197 firearms were reported lost or stolen in South Africa. That is an average of more than 13 000 firearms lost every year in the past three years.

The Firearms Control legislation is an important framework to deal with firearms given their contribution to serious and violent crime in South Africa. Between 1 July 2004, and 31 March this year, a total of 103 541 licensed firearms were handed in voluntarily to the police together with 1 468 840 rounds of ammunition. During the same period, the police confiscated illegal firearms and ammunition to the tune of 73 132 and 1 125 666, respectively. Between 2002 and last year 415 351 firearms were destroyed by the police.

Meanwhile the following has happened with respect to the implementation of the Firearms Control Act:

* a total of 13 sports-shooting organisations, five hunting associations, 14 collectors' associations, 292 businesses in hunting (outfitters and professional hunters, 439 training providers and a total of 298 shooting ranges countrywide have been licensed.

* a total of 286 094 competency certificate applications and 408 114 renewal applications were received and are being processed. The South African Police Service has already finalised 120 121 competency certificates and a total of 84 885 renewal firearm licences have already been issued.

Training and skilling

The development and training of all employees within the South African Police Service will continue to remain a priority to ensure and enhance police capacity and effectiveness. As part of the ongoing expansion of the police service, 11 360 learners will enter Basic Training Institutions across the country during this financial year. They will be trained in the National Certificate in Policing, which covers the basic fundamentals of policing.

This year 1 500 investigators will be trained in the Detective Learning Programme. Some of the 125 detective commanders from Gauteng will be trained in the new Detective Commanders' course which will enhance the managerial skills of those commanders. The Intelligence Trade Craft Learning Programme, which was developed in co-operation with all intelligence agencies, is set to equip members at grassroots level to act on information gathered and to initiate intelligence-driven operations to support crime combating.

Training in the Street Survival and Techniques course continues to provide functional members with the required skills to perform their duties in a safe and efficient manner. Already a total number of 15 500 members have been trained. Management courses, focusing on police-specific subjects, are being presented for junior, middle and executive employees within the organisation. This year will see the implementation of our Succession Planning process and an Executive Development Programme for provincial commissioners.

Performance management

The Performance Management System continues to be an important tool for managing individual and organisational performance. All employees and managers undergo the performance management process. We have largely succeeded in institutionalising a performance culture within the South African Police Service. An individual's ability to advance in a career and the level of remuneration is determined by individual performance. Strong emphasis has had to be placed on the fair and consistent application of the performance management process. A remuneration strategy for the SAPS was developed to exercise control over the implementation of pay policies and budgets.

With effect from 1 April 2006 a new broadband salary structure was implemented for employees appointed in terms of the SAPS Act. In terms of this new salary structure all the previous salary notches from salary levels 4 to 12 have been revised and replaced by five salary bands. In terms of this dispensation the annual 1% pay progression system has been replaced by a four percent pay progression system every three years. The performance-based increase will be effected on the 1st of July of every year.

The salary structure addresses a revised framework for pay progression, based on performance, career pathing, broad banding and competency certification as criteria before a person is promoted to the next higher level. The pay structure importantly allows for progression for production workers and keeps them in the production levels for longer periods. This is crucial in the SAPS, as the core function of the production worker is to combat crime and ensure public safety.

Scarce skills

Retaining personnel in the scarce skills environment (including pilots, forensic analysts, radio technical staff, etc) remains a challenge. As a retention strategy we introduced a Scarce Skills Allowance which is payable to identified employees performing a specialised function in a scarce skills environment. The scarce skills allowance is revised annually.

Oversight

Independent Complaints Directorate

The 1st of April marked the tenth anniversary of the existence of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD). That body will commemorate many more anniversaries in future as we continuously strengthen it so that it can discharge successfully the mandate it has to keep the police in check and accountable.

We have made an arrangement with the United Kingdom's Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to help us train some of the members of the ICD in the various aspects that relate to the ICD's mandate, including investigations of police misconduct. The ICD started with a complement of 36 employees nationally in 1997, with a budget of R17 million. Today, the personnel figure stands at 248, with a budget of R80,8 million.

The problem of access to the ICD is receiving special attention. The matter is going to be addressed through the establishment of additional offices and more investigators. The satellite offices at Richard's Bay (KZN) and Mthatha (Eastern Cape) will be opened during the current Financial Year.

The restructuring of the ICD has seen the establishment in that body of the Integrity Strengthening Unit and the Anti-Corruption Command (ACC). The ACC will be established in all the provinces in future. The ICD was able to influence the creation of oversight mechanisms in a number of African countries. The ICD is the secretariat of the African Policing Oversight Forum.

Secretariat

The Secretariat during the current Financial Year will assist the CPFs in the programme to revamp them. It is envisaged that the reorganisation of the CPFs will be completed by the end of this year.

In fulfilling their mandate, the Secretariat, working together with the CPFs will arrange meetings with the various communities to inform them about the changes that will be effected and the crucial role the communities will play in the establishment of the CPFs and the strengthening of the partnership with the police.

The communities will be asked to identify suitable residents who can be recruited into the police reservists to work together with the police in patrolling their areas, setting up roadblocks and mounting cordon and search operations. The Secretariat will also lead the process of reviewing some of our legislation for purposes of amendments.

Key in that exercise will be legislation that relates to the municipal police services and all matters relevant to community policing, including the restructuring of the CPFs. It is hoped that those legislative changes will serve before Parliament early next year.

Issued by: Secretariat of Safety and Security
22 May 2007