The eThekwini metro police is looking at fitting electronic tags to its guns to make recovery easier in the event of theft or loss.
|||Durban - The eThekwini metro police is looking at fitting electronic tags to its guns to make recovery easier in the event of theft or loss.
City manager S’bu Sithole mentioned the plan after an audit report before the council’s executive committee on Tuesday revealed shortcomings in the control of metro firearms.
Audit committee member, Peter Christianson, said they were concerned about the metro police department’s internal control systems.
He said weaknesses were highlighted in controls over firearm and ammunition procurement, as well as general controls to safeguard firearms.
Sithole said the department was looking at electronic tags for the guns so that, at any given time, they would know if they were stolen or lost.
“The issue of guns is a very sensitive one, especially when you look at the extent of crime recently,” he said.
Heinz de Boer, of the DA, said the city needed to look at giving each police officer a gun, for which he or she would be responsible.
“That will make it easy to control them and in the event that the gun goes missing, that member can be questioned and if they were at fault, they can be disciplined,” he said.
De Boer said the city needed to start taking drastic decisions.
mpume.madlala@inl.co.za
Daily News