Makana Municipality is keeping mum on why it has stripped all traffic officers of their authority to arrest offenders.
Makana Municipality is keeping mum on why it has stripped all traffic officers of their authority to arrest offenders.
This follows hot on the heels of a memorandum which was issued to traffic officers last month, a copy of which Grocott’s Mail is in possession of. "Traffic officers will with immediate effect consult with his/her senior and get the go ahead/authority before arresting an alleged accused," it reads.
Makana spokesperson Thandy Matebese would not be drawn into discussing the issue as he said that the memorandum was mearnt for "internal use" only. "We don’t comment on leaked information because by so doing we would be setting a bad precedent," he said.
While the memo claims that no authority is taken away from officers as they are allowed to open a docket when there is no admission of guilt, they must supply the control-room staff with the full charges when requesting the services of the police.
"It will work the same as when requesting a break-down; the senior will be informed before the SAPS gets called out, unless it’s an emergency," explains the memo. "The senior will then get called to the scene after the SAPS got called."
Therefore officers on duty after hours should contact their immediate supervisors and if they don’t suceed, then senior superintendent Pierre Kapp must be alerted of the situation. When contacted Kapp referred all enquiries to Matebese.
Rhodes University-based criminal law expert, Advocate Les Roberts says that the memorandum does not break any law and is meant to protect people’s rights so that they do not get arrested for light offences. He assumes that the memorandum was triggered by an incident where somebody was arrested "unnnecessarily" and then took legal action against the municipality because of the "invasive" nature of an arrest.
