An alarming increase in DNA backlogs was recorded by the SAPS FSL over the past year and the DNA Board was unable to implement measures to solve this crisis. Moreover, despite increased training, still, not all schedule 8 offenders’ buccal samples are taken and despite questions raised in today’s Police Committee meeting, no explanation was given on progress on the collection of Buccal samples of current incarcerated prisoners. According to Action Society these are critical failures, that is not only robbing victims of crime of justice, but is actually endangering the public in the case of parolees possibly being released without buccal samples in the system.
“It is common knowledge that thousands of criminal cases are stalling in court because of outstanding forensic reports, and the situation seems to be exacerbated by a lack of collaboration between the National Prosecuting Authority and the DNA Board. It was shocking to learn that the DNA Board received only two complaints in the year reported. One was withdrawn and the other is still unresolved. As things stand, there should be hundreds of complaints, but a lack of public education of the complaints process, which was blamed on a lack of funds, means that victims and their families are continually left in limbo, unaware that they can complain” explains Juanita du Preez, spokesperson for Action Society.
The big failure of the SAPS FSL is the completion rate of routine cases. Only 13,6% (5 111 of 37 591) of cases were completed within the required 35 calendar days. Non-routine cases didn’t fare much better with only 31,65% (1 881 of 5 944) cases completed within the required 113 calendar days. The number of the current backlog wasn’t mentioned.
Out of 364 477 arrests for schedule 8 offenses, 300 997 buccal samples were collected. A question regarding buccal samples of the 157 000 prisoners currently incarcerated in South Africa, remained unanswered, triggering worries about SAPS’ ability to link parolees to future crimes.
“The report continued to mention that 16 606 reports relating to gender based violence were prioritised and forwarded to the NPA in the reporting year. This represents only a fraction of rape and murder cases reported every year. There are clear capacity shortages for prioritised crime like GBV cases. The impact of delays on forensic work means delays in court turnaround times for GBV cases. While the DNA Board’s report had plenty of statistics, it lacked plans to solve the growing DNA Backlog crisis. That needs to change.”
