Cape Town - The Department of Community Safety revealed that, of the 2 785 detectives at police stations in the province, 45.8% were not trained on the basic detective learning programme (BDLP).
Department's director: policy and research, Amanda Dissel, also revealed that 71% of detectives had to make do without informers.
She said that 91.7% of eligible detectives were not trained in the specialised detective learning programme; 57.4% of eligible detectives were not trained in the detective commander learning programme; and, 88.2% of eligible detectives were not trained in the fraud course for general detectives.
The findings were revealed on Thursday, by the department during a briefing at the standing committee on community safety in the legislature on its 2020/21 policing needs and priorities (PNP) report.
Committee chairperson, Reagan Allen, said among the myriad of problems found, it was disclosed that police officers in the province received no in-field training and supervision following their graduation and that 62.9% of dockets were lost in the archive system.
Dissel said in February 2020 there were 3 182 detectives. This, when a total of 3 644 were needed, representing a 12.7% shortfall. This led to high caseload of up to 200 cases per detective.
She said 48% of detectives had a caseload of over 200 dockets per person which was 333% above the 50 to 60 case norm.
"There was a shortage of 548 detectives in the province and 142 posts remained vacant," Dissel said.
Allen said in light of those revelations, he would be writing to the Acting Provincial Police Commissioner, Mpumelelo Manci, to request timelines on the SAPS' turn-around strategy in the province.
Responding to the report in writing, Manci said: "All findings, comments and recommendations in the report related to the issue(s) have been noted."
Manci said the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on recruitment and basic training. "The SAPS Western Cape is currently in the process of recruiting applicants to be trained as police officials," he said.
ANC provincial spokesperson for community safety, Mesuli Kama, welcomed the report and "the manner in which members of the committee conducted themselves".
Kama said it was good to see the DA members moving away from their normal posture which sought to politicise the fight against crime. "Moreover, we are happy at reports of improved and cordial working relations between the department and SAPS as reported at the meeting," Kama said.
He said previous PNPs have always painted a gloomy picture of shortages of police resources. This year, however, the PNPs acknowledged an improvement in this regard.
"The ANC reiterates its calls on SAPS to resolve the skewed allocation of police resources in the province. More police resources must be taken to the crime and murder hotspot areas," he said.