Cops losing firearms...
2004-09-21 14:04
Pretoria - Eight police members lost their official firearms in bathrooms in the past financial year, and another lost his while under the influence of alcohol, according to the police's annual report released this week.
An auditor-general report attached to the document expresses concern about "serious internal control weaknesses" regarding the safekeeping of police firearms.
A total of 935 firearms valued at more than R2m were lost by or stolen from police members in the year under review, according to auditor-heneral Shauket Fakie's report.
This was up from 921 the previous year.
Lost firearms accounted for 304 of the past year's total. Ninety-nine firearms were lost during "handing over", 135 during inspections, and 32 from the person of the members in question.
Twenty-nine were lost during the execution of official duties.
Fakie's report said 401 firearms were robbed from members in townships, and 94 in housebreakings - in six cases of which the guns were not properly locked away.
Thirty-five firearms were stolen from members' dwellings, 10 from state vehicles, 22 from private vehicles and 58 from offices or stores.
In six cases, guns were taken in robberies "involving liquor", and five during collisions.
The annual report was released on Monday.
At the time, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula expressed concern about the large number of violent crimes involving the use of guns, and announced a special amnesty to encourage the surrender of illegal firearms and ammunition.
"Our mandate in this country is to reduce crime and thereby create conditions for peace and stability," Nqakula said on Monday.
"In order to discharge this particular obligation, one of the things we want to do is to deal with the matter of firearms, particularly the illegal circulation of those weapons."
In terms of the latest crime statistics, 42.2% of murders, 73.9% of attempted murders and 78.4% of aggravated robberies committed in 2003 involved the use of a firearm.
- SAPA