2021 July unrest was a lesson, says SAPS
The South African Police Service (SAPS) says the 2021 July unrest exposed loopholes which existed in its department and procedures.
The South African Human Rights Commission, along with the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, released the 2021 July Unrest Investigative hearings reports on Monday.
The SAHRC report indicates that police had failed to detect the planning and execution of the unrest, which falls within its mandate.
The commission revealed that there were various security threats detected from December 2020, which ultimately led to the violence and looting in 2021.
Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says they are working tirelessly to improve their mandate in detecting and collecting information on crime.
"Under crime intelligence, we have filled critical and key vacancies. We have a permanent divisional commissioner and a deputy national commissioner for crime detection.
"All structures within the crime intelligence environment are being reviewed to enhance service delivery in all provinces. The SAPS has trained and deployed 20,000 police officers in the last two years to capacitate front-line policing services.
"We have trained 79 police officers as drone pilots to assist in crime prevention and policing operations.”
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