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Chapter 5
SPECIALISED UNITS TO INVESTIGATE ORGANISED CRIME
The domestic nature and patterns of crime generally determine whether a police agency will establish specialised police units to address specific crime categories. The number of such units and their functions will therefore differ from country to country. Not much can be read into the fact that one country has more specialised units than another. The names given to the units seldom provide sufficient information about the full range of responsibilities of such a specialised unit. For all these reasons, the information that was gathered in the survey about the specialised police units of Southern African police agencies merely provides an indication of the present state of affairs rather than a reflection of their individual ability or capacity to combat organised crime.
Respondents were asked whether there were specific units within their police service tasked to investigate criminal offences committed by organised criminal groups — for example, a narcotics branch, organised crime unit or endangered species unit. If the answer to this question was yes, the following information was requested:
- the names of such units;
- the number of units; and
- their main tasks (see table 4).
Table 4: Special police units to investigate organised crime in SADC countries
| Country |
Special units |
Number |
Names of units |
| Botswana |
Yes |
2 |
Diamond and Narcotic Squad, Serious Crime Squad |
| Lesotho |
Yes |
5 |
Diamond and Drugs Squad, Robbery and Car Theft Squad, Fraud Squad, Counter Crime Unit, Stock Theft Unit |
| Malawi |
Yes |
3 |
Anti-Robbery Unit, Anti-Motor Vehicle Theft Unit, Dangerous Drugs Unit |
| Namibia |
Yes |
7 |
Detective Unit, Drug Law Enforcement Unit, Protected Resources Unit, Commercial Crime Unit, Motor Vehicle Theft Unit, Crime Investigation Support Unit, Criminal Intelligence Unit |
| South Africa |
Yes* |
14 |
Undercover Operations Office, Vehicle Theft Unit Stock Theft Unit, Diamond & Gold Unit, South African it, Narcotics Bureau, Fraud Unit, Anti-Corruption Unit, Gang Unit, Firearm Investigating Unit, Serious & Violent Crime Unit, Vehicle Tracing Unit, Truck Highjacking & Theft Unit, Illegal Aliens Unit, Endangered Species Unit |
| Swaziland |
Yes |
5 |
Drug/Car Theft Unit, Serious Crime Unit, Criminal Intelligence Unit, Interpol Unit, Fraud and Commercial Unit |
| Tanzania |
Yes |
5 |
Ant-Narcotic Unit, Anti-Terrorist Squad, Stock Theft Prevention Unit, Anti-Robbery Squad, Criminal Intelligence Unit |
| Zambia |
No** |
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| Zimbabwe |
No*** |
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Drug Squad, Vehicle Theft Section, Special Investigating Unit |
| *The South African Police Service supplied this information before it announced that a restructuring and reduction of the number of specialised units were under way. |
| **"In Zambia, all investigations involving narcotics are handled by the Drug Enforcement Commission, which is an independent entity. " |
| *** There are currently no specific units in the Zimbabwe police which deals solely with offences perpetrated by organised criminal groups. |
The Zimbabwean response probably also reflects the existing reality in most of the other police agencies. As in Zimbabwe, most police agencies in the region have specialised units, but these were probably established for the purpose of investigating specific crime categories rather than for the sole purpose of investigating organised crime. The fact that many of the crime categories for which the units were established involve crimes frequently committed by organised criminal groups does not necessarily suggest that the members of all of the above specialised units were trained or are equipped to investigate organised crime effectively. This has certainly been the case in South Africa.
The high priority presently accorded to the fight against organised crime in South Africa has led to the establishment of organised crime units which consist of multidisciplinary teams, that make extensive use of crime intelligence, and that are specifically equipped to investigate organised crime. Members of existing specialised units such as the South African Narcotics Bureau or the Diamond and Gold Branch are currently being redeployed into dedicated organised crime units, or will be undertaking detective work at station level.
The logic behind the developments in South Africa is not difficult to understand and may well hold some lessons for other police agencies in the region. Sophisticated drug syndicates that deal in narcotics are often also involved in crimes such as money-laundering, vehicle theft, diamond-smuggling or prostitution. If a specialised anti-drug unit concentrates on investigating those activities that relate to drug-related issues only, and not on the other activities of the same syndicate that relate to money-laundering, vehicle theft or diamond-smuggling, then an effective investigation of the syndicate cannot take place. A multidisciplinary organised crime unit is likely to be more effective because of its holistic approach and its wide variety of appropriate skills. With a multiplicity of specialised units that were established to focus on specific crime categories and also tasked to investigate organised crime, problems are always experienced with knowing where the mandate of one starts and that of the other ends. Duplication can occur and the danger of organised crime investigations, or aspects of such investigations falling through the cracks is real. The information available among different specialised units on organised criminal groups is not always shared and this makes it more difficult to investigate them properly.
A case may therefore be made for the restructuring of some of the specialised police units in the SADC region in order to establish dedicated organised crime units. This could strengthen the hand of the police against organised crime in their own country, as well as regionally.
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