Save the Scorpions, kill the press leaks

As my regular readers know, the survival of the Scorpions as well as special police units like Organised Crime, has been one of my priorities over the past year. This arises not only from having dealt with many of their people and being able to appreciate their professionalism but also as a result of our horrendous crime rate and the dire need for their existence.

It would therefore be a travesty if the Scorpions were lost to an internal political war within the ANC and the conduct of certain members within their unit.

My point of departure has always been that where a Scorpion has been involved in playing politics they should be removed immediately but the unit allowed to continue as is. They are not there to further the personal agendas of the government or anyone else because that would compromise their independence and reduce their effectiveness.

Accordingly, if they became a puppet of the government or the ruling party they would become worthless in fighting corruption at the highest level save against the enemies of those who are controlling them.

Allegations that the unit was manipulated by certain members of the ANC can no longer be discounted but then neither can the fact that this can be easily rectified by changing certain personnel.

What has been of interest is that during the course of this exercise I am also finding allegations of unofficial leaking of information to the media ie outside of official Scorpion press releases. I’m advised that this has also done substantial damage, reduced goodwill and occasioned huge resentment from not only politicians but others who remain adamant that they be closed down.

If this is the case it makes the campaign to try and save the unit that much harder.

It is important that we distinguish between official Scorpion press releases, which form part and parcel of their day to day operations, and unofficial ones which are leaked by individual Scorpions to their friends or contacts in the media.

It is this latter course of conduct which is causing resentment and should occasion criminal sanction against any Scorpions who have been involved with this practice if this is the case. This does not go to press freedom but rather media manipulation designed to influence political or business interests.

The reason why this is important and may have retarded efforts to save the unit is on account of the following:

The Scorpions, due to the nature of their work, are mandated with extraordinary powers for investigation which take them into areas beyond the reach of most units. This gives them access to information which is highly sensitive to the government, the private sector and various individuals.

In addition they have funding way in excess of most units which, coupled to their powers set out above, places them in an immensely powerful position requiring that their members demonstrate the utmost good faith at all times.

At any given moment they would be in possession of information that could damage or destroy the lives and careers of many people as well as entire companies and organisations. As a safeguard against this we have courts of law which afford individuals, groups and companies a forum to test this evidence and any allegations for veracity.

If we allow people working for the Scorpions or any senior police unit to release information on a whim and outside official channels, you get the following effect:

Firstly, people in the media believing in the truth of untested information because it is emanating from a senior unit. In other words highly classified information, untested and without any safeguards being published by credible media outlets and absorbed as such by the public. Most importantly, editors and members of the public without any knowledge of the agenda behind its release nor recourse against the party/s who put it into play.

If, for example, that agenda is political, then by the time anyone has had a chance to test the information in a court of law the horse called ‘individual reputation’ might long have bolted. Perception replacing truth where the truth no longer matters.

A unit possessing the power and access available to the Scorpions must therefore be strictly regulated, checked and rechecked to ensure that only official media releases go into the public domain. Where parties infringe they must be dealt with severely and where there is an agenda people must have recourse against them. Abuse at this level occasions substantial damage.

Secondly, once released into the public domain the media, with an eye on the source providing it, sell it as if it is part of the Gospels. As we are witnessing in terms of the ongoing internal ANC war the purpose for releasing a lot of the information was for anything but the public interest. Instead much of it was part of a campaign to discredit political opponents.

In politics and in business the information which is put into play by units like the Scorpions or the senior police units has to be via official channels only. If for example they wish to tip the press off about a drug bust then it must be logged and specifics of the information given, retained for inspection.

This will prevent manipulating the media in that the basis for supplying the information would need to meet certain tests or the unit could be sued. This as opposed to the police raiding individuals, making a huge fanfare about the process and later, when nothing is found, denying that they tipped off the media. The victim may as well be guilty as far as the public’s perception of him or her goes.

While we always fight against government and state institutions being able to conceal information from the public, we also need to ensure that we don’t allow them to use information gathered using taxpayer’s money to further personal agendas.

This means official channels need to be more forthcoming and parties who use unofficial channels, in areas requiring the utmost good faith like the Scorpions, and abuse their position, charged and where applicable imprisoned for playing politics and dabbling in business.

Often, by releasing information before parties have even been charged, an investigation is compromised and there is a real risk of them collapsing altogether. The question that follows has to be what purpose did releasing that information then serve? If it is an anonymous leak within a unit how will you determine agenda or accountability?

Often it also gives the State a clear advantage over any accused through conducting a campaign against the party concerned before battle has even commenced. Sometimes it doesn’t even commence but the damages occasioned are enormous.

The fact is that it can ruin people’s lives, which even a victory in court can’t undo. This means that the basis for real resentment exists. In other words if there are Scorpions or any policemen or women who have been playing cowboy and abusing their position of trust by leaking information to the press, then they need to be removed along with those playing politics.

That would go a long way to restoring confidence in the police and the Scorpions.

I have undertaken to look into this question as part of the exercise to try and save this unit. I need hardly point out that where it exists, the parties concerned are guilty of a number of criminal offences which may have occasioned substantial damages to those parties who have allegedly found themselves on the wrong end of this.

As the Scorpions themselves know, the job of the police is to investigate crime impartially and place the matter before the court to decide. By leaking any matter to the media they are entering the arena outside of the ordinary course and scope of investigating crime and pursuing vested political or business interests.

If and where it exists it must be dealt with immediately and severely.