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Will any detective do? The SAPS response to sexual offences

This article explores the response to sexual offences by detectives, with a focus on international practices and the South African context. It highlights the effectiveness of specialized units and the need to address under-reporting, distinctions between child and adult victims, and fragmented response. The article also examines the challenges involved in investigating stranger rapes and serial rape cases.

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Will any detective do? The SAPS response to sexual offences

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  1. Will any detective do?The SAPS response to sexual offences Detective Dialogue, Police Portfolio Committee 5 September 2012 Lisa Vetten

  2. Responses internationally • The Women’s Police Station – mainly Latin America (Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Colombia and Uruguay) and Tamil Nadu, India. • Strength: increases reporting • Specialist units/individuals - Namibia, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. • Strength: can improve case outcomes

  3. South Africa: an overview • 1986 - Child Protection Units (CPU) • 1995 - Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Units • 2006 - FCS Units effectively broken up • April 2011 - restored to full functioning again • 2012 - 2 155 FCS detectives placed at all 176 policing clusters in the country and a budget of R49.5 million shared between the provinces

  4. General detectives vs FCS detectives • General detective (n=278) • arrest: 32.7% • withdrawn by police: 60.9% • withdrawn by prosecutor: 64.3% • Cases referred to trial 7.9% • Guilty findings 22.7% • FCS detective (n=1 757) • 52.4% (p=0.000) • 42.0% (p=0.000) • 49.0% (p=0.014) • 19.0% (p=0.000) • 36.5% (p=0.191)

  5. Women and children • Adult women’s matters faring somewhat less well than children’s matters • Gauteng 2003 • Arrests: 47% vs 56% • Trials: 15% vs 22% • Mpumalanga case study 2005 – 2007 • Arrests: 66% vs 49% • Trials: 14% vs 5% • More general detectives investigating adults’ matters? • More women report being raped by strangers than known perpetrators? • More effort put into children’s cases than those of women?

  6. Known and unknown perpetrators • Stranger rapes require more effort from the police. • Statements do not routinely contain descriptions of the perpetrator(s) • Detectives do not routinely take statements from all eye witnesses who could also assist in the identification of suspects. • Detectives infrequently visit crime scenes or collect finger prints. • Do not always take suspects’ blood (16% GP and 2% Mpum), rendering DNA evidence useless. • Need to consider that some stranger rapists involved in a host of illegal activities/trio crimes – housebreaking, robbery, illegal firearms trade

  7. Serial rape in one locality, Mpumalanga • 13 men identified as having been involved in an estimated 37 rapes over the three year study period - 1 man perhaps involved in 11 rapes between 2001 - 2007. • Same individuals repeatedly appear in court for same type of offence, some appearances no more than a month apart, and still get bail. • No alarm raised by these successive cases - no indication of extra vigilance or effort on the part of criminal justice officials to investigate and prosecute these cases.

  8. Concluding recommendations • Address under-reporting and put in place policy around VECs • Address distinctions between child and adult victims – National Instruction 3/2008 • Address fragmented response – CSC taking statements, detectives investigating. Uniform STO? • Monitor quality of investigations – adults/children, known/unknown.

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