Criminals go free as food money dries up

Cops not arresting people for petty crimes as they cannot feed them

ALARM bells have been sounded after an admission by police officers on the ground that they are avoiding arresting petty criminals because police stations cannot feed them.

Police are being forced to either dig into their own pockets or transfer detainees to neighbouring stations because of the lack of food funding.

They are also releasing suspects on warning so there are fewer mouths to feed.

A string of stations across the province are opting not to arrest petty criminals because they have to fork out the money themselves to feed them.

The lack of funds for food at police stations has been an issue for more than a month and has been blamed on bureaucratic red tape.

But police top brass said yesterday they had taken action to deal promptly with the problem – caused by hiccups in procurement processes.

Experts have slated police management for infringing on prisoners’ basic human rights.

In the past, police stations’ tea clubs have either provided food or hired providers who would then be reimbursed by the police.

At least 16 stations are experiencing a food crisis but the figure could be far higher.

Those affected include Swartkops, Addo, Despatch, Walmer, Jeffreys Bay, Kareedouw, Thornhill, St Francis Bay, Cookhouse, Tarkastad, Humansdorp, Steytlerville, Wolwefontein, Adelaide, Hofmeyr and Hankey.

Several police officers confirmed that they were trying to limit the number of arrests as a result.

Kareedouw police said they were transferring detainees to avoid feeding them.

“We transport all our prisoners to Humansdorp for them to deal with,” they said.

“We also don’t really arrest people if we can help it.”

Hankey police said they held their own detainees, but paid out of their own pockets to feed them.

“As I speak now, there is no food here for the prisoners,” one officer said. “They need to be fed and the commander has gone to buy food with his own money to feed them.”

The Kirkwood police station, where food has been an issue for weeks, only had funding paperwork approved last week.

At the weekend, Swartkops police were transferring prisoners to the Motherwell station for food, while Walmer police were transferring prisoners to Humewood.

Police said the problem started about two months ago when provincial head office ordered all food providers and tea clubs to resubmit paperwork to register on their database.

A letter was circulated to all police stations across the province, requesting that documentation be sent for verification before any payments were approved.

Senior police officials said “red tape” surrounding the approval of the providers meant all food supplies had ceased.

“We don’t know what to do – it is a matter of red tape and we have reported this issue to management several times,” one official, who did not want to be named, said.

“We cannot arrest suspects as we would have to foot the food bill or devote more resources to transfer them to another police station.”

Detainees are fed two to three times daily – depending on when they have to appear in court.

-Gareth Wilson