File Picture: Armand Hough
THE INDEPENDENT Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) has experienced a 9% increase in the number of cases it investigated in the 2020/21 financial year.
The directorate said the cases against police officers accused of wrongdoing increased from 5,640 to 6,122.
The five provinces with the highest number of cases, ranging from between 730 and 1,200 cases, are the Western Cape (1,224), Gauteng (1,082), KwaZulu-Natal (763), the Free State (731) and the Eastern Cape (30).
The directorate said there were 4,228 cases of assault, 830 of discharging an official firearm, 353 of death as a result of police action, 256 of torture and 217 of deaths in police custody.
The assault cases constituted 69% of all the cases that were reported and investigated during the year under review.
This was revealed in the annual report tabled in Parliament.
In her report, Ipid head Dikeledi Ntlatseng said all the assault cases were also prioritised in order to reduce the backlog.
“As a result, (the) investigation of 2,468 cases was completed during the period under review. (A) total of 106 disciplinary convictions were secured which involved 169 police officers.
“Eleven police officers were dismissed from service for cases related to rape, corruption and death as a result of police action.”
Ntlatseng said Ipid secured 22 criminal convictions in cases involving 29 police officers.
“The highest sentence secured was 25 years’ imprisonment and also years, ranging from between 10 to 18 years of imprisonment for cases related to death as a result of police action, rape by police officer and corruption,” she said.
The spike in the reported cases happened as the watchdog body launched a toll-free number to ensure that members of the public were able to access its services.
“Through this initiative, citizens will be able to report any police misconduct,” the report said.
– Political Bureau
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