Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Background

In 1998, the ISS was approached by the Secretariat for Safety and Security to facilitate the drafting of policy on firearm ownership in South Africa. During negotiations the need for primary research was clearly identified. Internationally, the available literature on the role of firearms in crime is voluminous, especially those emanating from the United States, but the extent to which these are applicable to South Africa was questionable. Their value was further in doubt, in light of the historical circumstances surrounding firearm ownership, the problems experienced in the criminal justice system and the perceived rise in crime levels in South Africa.

While a few local studies on the role of firearms in crime have been commissioned,1 it remains a grossly underresearched area. In addition, South African police statistics do not document sufficient detail on the role of firearms in crime.2

The information collected for this monograph dealt primarily with the nature and role of firearms in criminal incidents. The docket analysis was not intended to show the relationship between, or the proportion of firearm-related crimes in South Africa. Information on crime trends is available on a quarterly basis on the website of the Crime Information Analysis Centre3 of the SAPS. The Centre’s Schedule contains detailed explanations of the kind of information collected on firearms in this country (see appendix 2).

The main shortcoming of published police statistics on firearm-related crime is that they do not capture as much detail as is available in case dockets. For instance, there is no information on whether or not the firearm was discharged, little or no information about firearm ownership, and its history. The capacity of the SAPS is limited and has an impact on the capture of firearm-related information in such great detail. In light of other operational policing issues and priorities, capacity limitations are linked both to time and budgetary constraints.

The primary aim of the research was to provide insight into the role played by firearms in crime, with the purpose of providing information and support in the formulation of new firearm legislation. In particular, the objective was to establish whether there is a need to tighten existing firearm legislation, and to what extent.

Definitions

The working definitions4 used in this study are mainly the same as those used by the ISS in earlier victim surveys. However, these definitions do not always translate adequately when confronted by reality. For example, during some armed robbery incidents, murders took place. The primary motive for the crime was therefore used as far as possible in defining the incident:

Robbery includes the theft of any item from the person, where force or the threat of force is used.



In the case of armed robbery, offenders are armed with a firearm, which they use to achieve compliance.



In the case of common robbery, offenders do not necessarily have a firearm, and their swift action and the element of surprise usually ensure that they manage to take the victim’s possessions.



Hijacking is a specific form of robbery in which the type of property taken by force is a vehicle. Car-hijacking refers to an incident where a car is taken from a person using force or the threat of force. This form of robbery usually involves the use of a firearm.



The theft of a firearm usually occurs without force (either implied or actual) being used against the owner or holder of the firearm. Where force is used, it would be classified as a robbery or mugging.



Burglary is a form of theft that applies to the removal of property without the consent of the victim from his or her premises. This can refer either to residential or home premises, or work or employment premises.



Assault refers to an incident when a victim was personally attacked or hurt. Weapons may or may not have been used, but no items were necessarily stolen.



Murder occurs when a person is killed, either with or without premeditation.



During a sexual assault, a person is forced, either through threats or the use of force, to perform sexual acts, for example, sexual intercourse. Sexual assault is associated with violence.



The Arms and Ammunition Act (no 75 of 1969) governs the civilian use and control of firearms and ammunition. The following crimes are covered by the Act:



The negligent loss of a firearm refers to such a loss through the irresponsible behaviour of the licenced owner, through non-compliance to the licence conditions.



The negligent use of a firearm refers to the use of a firearm in an irresponsible manner in contravention of the Arms and Ammunition Act and its regulations governing the use of firearms in South Africa.



Possession or use of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol or any substance that has a narcotic effect refers to a person handling a firearm while under the influence of alcohol, or any substance that has a narcotic effect.



Discharging a firearm in a built-up or public place refers to the unlawful discharge of a firearm in a built-up or public place. The CIAC Schedule refers particularly to municipal areas in this regard (see appendix 2).



Pointing of a firearm refers to the unlawful pointing of a firearm.

Survey sample

In January 1999, the ISS undertook the analysis of 787 closed police dockets of firearm-related crimes at three police stations. These stations were located in Pretoria (181 dockets), Durban (312 dockets) and Cape Town (294 dockets).

The dockets were classified into different types of incidents according to certain crime categories. Seven broad types of firearm-related dockets were analysed. Throughout this monograph, the information will be considered within the following analytic clusters:

390 robbery dockets (including armed robbery, common robbery and hijacking incidents);



150 murder dockets (including both murder and attempted murder);



63 dockets concerning the theft of a firearm;



92 dockets concerning the pointing of a firearm;



62 dockets of contraventions of the Arms and Ammunition Act (including discharging a firearm in a built up or public place; possession of illegal firearms; possession or use of a firearm under the influence of alcohol; and negligent loss of a firearm);



18 assault dockets; and



12 other incidents (such as suicides, fraud, etc).

In the table below, the type of firearm-related crime investigated in the study is further classified in greater detail. The largest category of crime was robbery, followed by murder, the pointing of a firearm and theft of a firearm. The nature of the various crime types will be analysed in more detail in their respective sections.

It was important to consider both violent crimes and other crimes involving a firearm. It is often difficult to reconcile the contravention of the Arms and Ammunitions Act with crimes such as robbery and murder. However, the negligent actions of people in possession of firearms, specifically those with licences, often result in firearms entering the pool of illegal weapons in South Africa.

Sample points

Three police stations in three different provinces were selected for the research project: Pretoria Central Police Station, Pretoria, Gauteng; CR Swart Square Police Station, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal; and Mitchells Plain Police Station, Cape Town, Western Cape.

The police stations that were selected for the study were in major urban areas. This was to ensure that a broad range of crime types could be sampled. The particular urban centres were selected to provide a diverse spectrum of contexts: the peculiar nature of the political tensions in KwaZulu-Natal; the gang and organised crime aspects of Mitchells Plain; and, compared to the other two cities, the relatively lower level of crime in Pretoria.

Fieldworkers spent five days at each sampling point. At some points more dockets could be surveyed as a result of various factors. The quality of the detective work impacted on the detail contained in the dockets. In some police stations, fieldworkers felt that the quality of police investigation was poor. However, this was not always the case. The lower number of dockets completed in Pretoria reflects the longer form of the survey the fieldworkers initially worked with (refer to table 1). After this sample point had been completed, some of the more detailed questions were removed from the original survey, as the specific information under investigation was not reflected in the dockets.

Survey procedures

The survey utilised a pro forma questionnaire, on which the details of various SAPS dockets were transcribed. The dockets were randomly selected from cases where a firearm was involved in a crime. The uses of firearms in the incidents varied, and no predetermined criteria were applied to determine what these should have been.

Fieldwork

Ettienne Hennop, Head of the Fire Component of AMP, in conjunction with Jakkie Potgieter, Senior Field Researcher and Head of the Operations Room of the Africa Security Analysis Programme, undertook the analysis of the police dockets. The content of the pro forma questionnaire required the involvement of people with a sound working knowledge of firearms and police investigations to ensure its proper completion.

Case dockets were read and the relevant information transferred to the questionnaire form (see appendix 1). Certain case dockets contained photographic evidence of the scene of the crime and injury information, while other dockets were less detailed.

Both fieldworkers were disappointed with the quality of the police dockets chosen for analysis. On numerous occasions, crucial pieces of information about the ownership of the firearm, the motive for the crime and the relationship between the victim and the offender were omitted from the docket. While the fieldworkers felt that, in the case of some dockets, inference on their part might have been used to complete the questionnaire, they carefully refrained from doing so. Rather, omissions in the docket information were reflected as such on the pro forma questionnaire.

Docket selection

Upon arrival at the selected police stations, the fieldworkers were given access to all dockets on incidents in which a firearm had been involved. Dockets at these stations are filed in a separate room, according to case numbers and the date of the crime. The fieldworkers were shown the dockets room, after which police officials randomly selected dockets for analysis. The assistance of police officers at the stations was valuable, as they were able to draw out the dockets on incidents in which firearms had been used. Information reflected on the docket sleeves, such as the type of weapons employed and the type of crime perpetrated, was used by police officers to separate the firearm-related dockets from the general police dockets. If this information was absent from a docket sleeve, the docket was not selected.

The fieldworkers made further random selections from the piles they had been given. If upon inspection of each individual docket selected for analysis it was found that a firearm was mentioned, the analysis of the docket contents and the transfer of relevant information to the questionnaire went ahead, otherwise, the docket was omitted from the study.

The main limitation in this random selection of dockets was that certain crime types were not represented in a sufficiently large sample to allow significant deductions from the information. It was recommended that, in future docket analyses, a stratified random sampling method should be used, rather than a simple random selection method.

Methodological considerations

The following methodological considerations need to be borne in mind when using the data presented in the statistical tables.

Statistical limitations

As mentioned above, the sampling method meant that certain samples were too small to provide a valid size from which to draw conclusions. In these crime categories, the descriptive information is therefore presented as ‘found’, in order to provide an indication for future research. In such a case, information can only be regarded as descriptive and very few broader statistical deductions can be drawn. The specific docket count is reflected and used to describe findings, as opposed to the percentages used in the remainder of the text.

Questionnaire revision

After the docket analysis was completed at the Pretoria sample point, some of the questions were removed from the questionnaire. These included the question dealing with specific detail about the injury. There were a number of factors that necessitated the revision of the survey. It was too time-consuming to examine the various medical reports, autopsy reports and photographic evidence from the scene of the crime. A suitably qualified medical practitioner would have been necessary for an accurate interpretation of the type and level of injury. The entire injury question was not discarded, but was simplified to provide information relevant to a more basic level of interpretation.

Nature of the subject

The information in police dockets was found to be subjective. People reporting a crime naturally did so from their own perspective, thus providing one-sided accounts of the incident. The fieldworkers did not try to make assumptions on absent information, which would have been possible in some instances. If information was not contained in the docket, this lack of information was reflected in the pro forma questionnaire.

Classification of the crime in relationship to the role of the firearm

It is necessary to recognise that the role of a firearm in various firearm-related incidents can be multiple. From the outset, it is evident that both victim and offender may have been in possession of a firearm. In this case, the firearm can be a tool for self-defence or one of attack. In both cases, the firearm is a tool associated with the crime. Yet, the firearm itself can be the motive for the crime, which is the situation in most property crimes.