Building a united front against crime and corruption
“The business sector could make an invaluable contribution by supporting Government in combating crime and the causes of crime by the transfer of knowledge and the development of skills and capacity through public-private partnerships.” Nelson Mandela
These words, by the father of the nation, still ring true. Business has a role to play. But in reality, all stakeholders in society have a role to play in fighting crime and corruption.
It is no accident that we have chosen the theme: “Building a united front against crime and corruption” precisely because we realise the importance of forging meaningful partnerships with all stakeholders so that all South Africans must be safe and feel safe.
The National Development Plan – Vision 2030 also urges the building of partnerships as the game changer in achieving the future that this country hopes to achieve. It is therefore no accident that police have forged close working relationships with business organisations because it is in all our interests to do so. Business cannot thrive in an unsafe environment and safety cannot be achieved without the involvement of business and without them sharing their expertise and resources.
Business Against Crime, with whom SAPS has a close working relationship, was recently quoted as saying that business participation is critical to enabling an effective strategy to combat crime nationally. They have appealed – as we do – to businesses who are not involved in fighting crime, to come on board and strengthen Governments’ hand.
This partnership with Tracker is a living example of what can be achieved through pooling resources: to date, more than 68 000 recoveries have been achieved which have led to some 13 000 arrests. This is an impressive record. However, as we continue to work hard with our partners in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Safety cluster, the real test is how long these criminals are kept away from the society.
This does not detract from the good contribution to the quest for a safer country. Government appreciates Tracker’s contribution and we encourage other companies to follow suit and partner with Government as we attempt to meet our various goals.
In fact, the success is a classic example of showing how technology can and should be used more in crime fighting endevours. Sam Maquade says Technology, may be variously conceptualised, categorised and defined; is ubiquitous and serves seemingly infinite purposes; and evolves in its design, engineering, materials, components, manufacturing processes, adoption, implementation, systems integration and diffusion. Coupled with science, technology can accommodate human preferences and enable societal functions in astounding ways and may result in being used for good or evil as determined by how they are used in relation to social norms, ethics and laws.
For our purposes, technology should enable us to stay ahead of criminal enterprises and to deal effectively with crime and criminals. We must keep the pressure on.
In spite of all that’s been achieved by the Tracker-SAPS partnership, it is crucial that we continue to keep the pressure on. We need to continually innovate and consider new and clever ways to curtail crime in general and vehicle crime in particular – which is often at the centre of violent crimes such as armed robbery, murder, cash-in-transit heists and so on.
A 2012 study by Accenture found that citizens in general believe that police should open up more to digital tools to enable them to fight crime.
“Citizens have made it clear that they want to support police in fighting and preventing crime, but that they need more information from police to do so. Digital tools should play an important role in communicating with citizens who want to support police to fight crime, but do not feel adequately informed of police activities. By adopting new digital technologies, police can create new communication channels to engage citizens and gather leads to support their investigations”.
This is the challenge that we face: how to maximise and use technology to the best of our ability in furtherance of our good work in fighting crime and corruption.
To all those of you who are being recognised for your achievements today, I congratulate you. You are among the best at what you do. Enjoy today, because you deserve the accolades.
But I want you to do one very important thing for me: When you leave here today, take your learnings and experience and pass them on to those colleagues of yours who can benefit from them. To not share your knowledge and ability is almost a crime within itself. Alone, you are powerful at what you do, but if you can uplift your colleagues … how much more powerful have you become? How much better served is our country as a consequence of your generosity?
Our strength is not in how much we know or what we can do by ourselves, but in what we can achieve as a collective.
It is important at this point to also indicate that our association with Tracker goes beyond vehicle recovery. We also have a Tracker-SAPS Bursary Fund which provides life’s greatest gift: Education, to children of our fallen police officers.
While it can never truly compensate them for their loss, it will nonetheless have a profound effect on their lives.
By providing these children with a tertiary education, you have created a lifelong legacy for their parents.
I cannot imagine a better tribute to their sacrifice.
