Groundbreaking public-private partnership between SAPS and private sector to outwit tech-savvy criminals
In a groundbreaking public-private partnership, the South African Police Service is teaming up with the private sector to outwit tech-savvy criminals with smart phones and artificial intelligence.
Two pilot projects are already in place, one using artificial intelligence to help CCTV monitoring, and the other using smart phones to accelerate Automatic Number Plate Recognition.
This emerged last week at a business-led workshop attended by high-profile speakers from academia, government, and the private sector. The SDN event, a ‘call to action’ initiated by the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also heard input from several law enforcement stakeholders, among them Western Cape deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Preston Voskuil.
Several leading firms shared their concerns around crime, as well as crimefighting suggestions.
Insurance company Santam detailed their pilot project to supply SAPS with 100 smart phones aimed at enhancing digital capabilities in four provinces, specifically Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). A similar project, already in motion and led by Business Against Crime, is yielding encouraging benefits. With 160 smart phones employed, a total of 600 cars were recovered last year alone. “If you extrapolate these figures, the potential is massive,” said Voskuil during his address.
Voskuil emphasised the importance of public-private sector collaboration in the context of ‘resource-hungry’ policing. SAPS is also seeking collaboration in the management, maintenance and repair of its 45 000-vehicle strong fleet of police vehicles, an expense consuming a large proportion of the SAPS budget, Voskuil said.
Dr Jerry Chetty, Santam’s Head of Business Integrity, confirmed the company’s involvement with SAPS. “Santam undertakes to supply the police with 100 state-of-the-art cellphones (30 Gauteng, 30 WC, 20 KZN and 20 Limpopo) as an initial phase to bolster the SAPS ANPR project.”
Santam is already partnering with SAPS on another CCTV monitoring project involving AI that has shown positive results. “This is already in place in high-risk crime areas. We have recorded notable successes related to the recovery of stolen vehicles,” Dr Chetty said.
Other firms expressed similar willingness to pioneer pilot projects aimed at bolstering SAPS digital capabilities. FNB affirmed that digital technology already used to combat financial crime could also be applied to other forms of crime, and MTN outlined a vision of a smart city where digital technology could serve multiple law enforcement purposes. “In my opinion, it’s not about whether the technology works or not, it is about the speed of execution,” said MTN Business Enterprise Solutions General Manager Sudipto Moitra. “It is the ‘how and who’, and the speed of execution.”
Some private sector stakeholders warned that criminal syndicates also benefit from digital technology, although this too provided opportunities to monitor criminals’ digital footprint. Law enforcement needed to keep pace with the shifting digital landscape.
The Event speakers said the Chambers SDN function signalled increasing opportunities for public-private sector collaboration. Jo-Ann Johnston, Western Cape Head of Economic Development and Tourism, remarked: “This takes us forward. It’s a major shift from saying how bad things are, to recognising we actually have opportunities, and how do we collaborate for maximum impact.”
Cape Chamber chief executive John Lawson said a business model approach to economic impediments such as crime could ultimately benefit the broader society. “We are saying that many of these gaps can be addressed by identifying and accelerating practical solutions. The people who are losing money (due to issues such as crime) can help finance the technology that helps them reduce that loss,” Lawson said
Hubert Paulse, Business Against Crime Western Cape chairperson, said technology could be a force multiplier to help claw back the estimated R66-billion lost to crime annually in the province alone. “If law enforcement lacks the tools to respond to crime and to deter crime, the private sector ends up paying the price. Supporting smart policing is not charity, it is investment in a stable and functioning economy,” Paulse said.
Business Against Crime is championing the push for more public-private partnership in law enforcement.
Jacques Moolman
President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry