The Portfolio Committee on Police will tomorrow, 11 March receive a briefing from the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and the Council for the Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to assess the role these agencies play in bolstering the work of the South African Police Service.
SITA’s briefing according to Committee Chairperson, Francois Beukman, is aimed at tracking progress on the implementation of projects such as the Intergrated Case Document Management System, otherwise known as e-docket which started in 2002 and yet to be completed, among others.
CSIR on the other hand will brief the Committee on whether the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding between SAPS and CSIR was meeting the intended objectives. According to the CSIR, the MoU “is a formal step towards the longer-term objective to establish a Safety and Security Evaluation and Research Institute that will perform independent, ongoing scientific and operational research and evaluation tasks and provide scientific decision support services to the SAPS as and when required”.
Beukman added that the strategic partnerships of the SAPS within the scientific and technology environment have the potential to add significant value to the manner in which the SAPS currently police. “The effective and efficient use of technology and science will undoubtedly enable the SAPS to police smarter,” said Beukman.
Beukman however said there was a need to put in place strict controls that will govern these projects and programmes so as to ensure successful outcomes were achieved through these investments. He said Wednesday’s meeting would focus on the efficacy, monitoring and viability of these critical partnerships.
Details of the meeting are as follows:
Venue: Committee Room 1, Ground Floor, 120 Plein Street
Time: 09h00
Date: Wednesday, 11 March 2015
For enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson:
Temba Gubula, Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8307
Cell: 078 735 8809
E-mail: tgubula@parliament.gov.za
