Killers in our midst

This past week the media were at pains to point out that a “gay” man had been found bound and gagged in his home and had it appeared been strangled to death.

My immediate reaction to the headline was why it was deemed necessary to label a victim “gay” or “heterosexual”, as if this mattered a jot? 

Someone murdered is simply someone murdered. That in of itself is a tragedy. 

In any event it didn’t take too long before I was extremely grateful for that headline. 

The reason being that as the news story unfolded my mind kept going back about five years to when I had one of those dreaded phone calls notifying me that a friend of 20 years had been murdered in his flat in Linden. 

There were many similarities between the profiles of the two victims. 

Sinisterly it also crept into my mind that there also too many similarities in the crime scene.

I couldn’t help myself from thinking long and hard that there was a distinct possibility that this latest murder was the work of a serial killer. 

I simply could not let this uneasy feeling rest and found myself communicating with friends and family of the recently deceased via an online memorial site put up on Facebook. 

It turned out that the journalist, who broke the story, broke the story because he knew the victim. 

After chatting with the journalist for a short while and comparing notes we both felt there was merit to my suspicions and we began to ask questions about the possibility that there may be more victims of this type of crime. 

What I discovered rather quickly was that while the crimes were reported to the police as murders often happen to be, the murders themselves were not covered at all in the media. 

As I scoured the newspapers for any story at all on the demise of my late friend in such a heinous, lonely manner I discovered I couldn’t find a single sentence. 

It quickly became apparent that these types of murders weren’t the type loved ones wanted covered in the media. 

Who wants to add insult to injury to a grieving family by seeing a story of a “gay” man, bound and naked, dead in what appears to be a sex game gone wrong? 

Not many I can assure you. 

Then of course there are the SAPS themselves. 

South Africa is a homophobic society whether you like it or not and I suspect the murder of “gay” men doesn’t feature high up on the investigation priority chain. 

As a result it seems to me that this type of crime can continue unnoticed and that if a serial killer were on the loose, we wouldn’t notice for a long time if at all. 

It seems though, that the journalist is hot on the trail of the likelihood of a serial killer operating in the Johannesburg environs and that there are at least 4 similar murders in the past few months.

Well the SAPS don’t have to break their backs investigating these crimes. 

The South African Police Services (SAPS) has allocated more than R3 billion to information systems.

Its digital capacity to detect fingerprints at crime scenes through technology to photograph and enhance fingerprints lifted from crime scenes project is 100% complete in terms of hardware deployment, but the service is 0% complete in terms of training and rollout. 

The integrated case docket management system (ICDMS) entailing the management and administration of criminal cases, inquests and enquiries throughout the lifecycle of a case from its inception to its disposal is 10% complete in terms of software deployment. 

The automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) is 70% complete, however, is 0% complete in terms of publishing tenders for the procurement of the new AFIS. 

The SAPS set a target of replacing 5 052 PCs, 395 notebooks and tablets, 2 740 colour printers, 9 593 mono printers and 1 011 fax machines. 

To date, it has replaced 287 PCs (6% progress), 168 notebooks (43%), 219 mono printers (2%), 211 colour printers (8%) and 68 fax machines (7%). 

In some cases hardware was rolled out, but no progress was made on implementation, because officials still have to be trained to use the equipment. 

It will take decades to fully implement the e-docket systems at police stations across the country. 

At the Pretoria police station scanner, printer and computer are all on different floors. In addition, there is no quality control with regards to the e-docket. 

It seems to me we’re not getting much for our R3 billion? 

It also seems to me the SAPS don’t have to work awfully hard to uncover crime patterns with the correct technology in place.

Heck, all they have to do is capture the data? 

Don’t be mistaken folks but there are people culpable for the murderers of our citizens getting away with murder.

They are the ones responsible for depriving the men and women in uniform of the tools to do the job.