South African police team completes mission, submits findings to ComPol |24 August 2018

The Commissioner of Police Kishnan Labonte yesterday morning received a report of the findings and recommendations of the multi-disciplinary high-level team from the South African Police Services (SAPS) following its weeklong mission here to assess the needs and shortcomings of the Seychelles Police Force (SPF).

Commissioner Labonte received the report from the head of the team, Lieutenant General Marc Sumisa Magadlela, after it was endorsed by the former and the two deputy commissioners -- Romano Songor responsible for Visible Policing and Specialised Operations and Ted Barbe who is in charge of Investigation and Personnel Development.

The report will then be handed over to the minister responsible for the police force and eventually to the executive.

Commissioner Labonte described the completion of the mission as “the start of a long process of interactions between the SAPS and the SPF” because the working committee of the two forces will be meeting again soon to  discuss the way forward.

But he said that will now depend on the government once it receives a copy of the findings and the recommendations.

Though he said he is not satisfied with the state of the SPF at present, Commissioner Labonte went on to add that he is optimistic gradually things will change as they continue to step up effort to boost professionalism and capacity of the force which will be a long process.   

Commenting on the findings, Lieutenant Magadlela noted that they are as previously identified in the request submitted by the SPF delegation which went to South Africa in March. They concern development, capacity-building and training of human resource and personnel, the quality of new recruits, the need to enhance the performance and capacity of the dog unit, a need to enhance visible policing as there is a lack of personnel to attend to public complaints on the ground…   

“But it is not the number of people that is important but what you have in terms of expertise as one person can perform different jobs if properly trained,” Lieutenant Magadlela pointed out.

Training and equipment for detectives also need to be beefed up to raise quality and work output as well as to meet international standards.

In order to reduce complaints and dissatisfaction among the public, the forensic department also needs to be strengthened to allow for training of investigators to better collect, handle and preserve crime scene evidence, DNA, scientific clues being collected … to avoid contamination of crime scenes, validation and calibration of police laboratory equipment to meet international standards and  ensure credibility of results.

Crime intelligence is also an area that needs to be reviewed to ensure the country is safeguarded.

“How do we build a network of confidence, sources and people because if there is a problem which is a security threat, our communities should be involved and how they assist the police in terms of intelligence, the issue of legislation and how to give power to intelligence operatives who are acting within the law… were all issues that were assessed,” Lieutenant Magadlela pointed out, noting that the mission has made its own recommendations based on these findings which he stressed are exclusive and specific for the Seychelles police.

Asked if in his view the Seychelles police is competent enough, Lieutenant   Magadlela said the types of crimes happening in South Africa and the country experience cannot be compared to Seychelles and therefore one cannot know how the SPF would handle these kinds of crimes but what is important is to have a police force which is well trained and well prepared and ready to effectively deal with different kinds of crimes.

“We need to up the force to the standard so that it is ready for any kind of crime that may come to Seychelles,” Lieutenant Magadlela stated. 

 The SPF and SAPS delegations during their meeting yesterday