Tensions between Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer and Community Safety MEC Dan Plato have flared up.
|||Cape Town - Tensions between provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer and Community Safety MEC Dan Plato flared up on Monday when Plato said officers were failing to protect the public.
Lamoer then hit back, telling the Cape Times: “The MEC makes statements that aren’t helpful to the fight against crime in the province.”
Plato’s statement on Monday said: “The police are failing to carry out their duties and protect our public, and the Western Cape Police Commissioner, General Arno Lamoer will have to explain why his officers are not making arrests when crimes are committed right in front of them.”
Plato referred to an incident last week when, he said, “a group of thugs”, believed to be supporters of 183 protesters who had appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, stole from, and assaulted, a vendor on the Grand Parade.
Plato was not present when it happened, but said he had received a complaint about it.
“While the police stopped the supporters from causing serious harm to the man who was trying to get back his property, they failed to make any arrests,” the statement said.
He said when asked why no arrests had been made, a police spokesperson had responded that it was because no complaint had been lodged.
Plato said the man who was assaulted must have feared for his life. “Of course he will be intimidated and not want to lay a charge, it is then up to the police to take action of their own accord,” he said.
Plato said the Criminal Procedures Act gave the police the power to do so. “By not arresting the perpetrators involved in this crime, the police have failed to protect… the inhabitants of the Western Cape…” he said.
His department was trying to track the vendor to see if it could help him lodge a complaint about the assault .
Lamoer said if members of the public wanted to complain about police conduct, there were various channels for them including the Public Protector and Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
Lamoer said when it came to making an arrest, procedures needed to be followed.
It is not the first time Plato and Lamoer have not seen eye to eye.
In previous disagreements, Plato was vocal about reintroducing specialised gang and drug units, which Lamoer said would not happen.
Early last year, Plato also accused high-ranking police officers of being on the payrolls of drug lords. Lamoer responded in a letter saying any officers found to be colluding with criminals would be severely dealt with.
caryn.dolley@inl.co.za
Cape Times