Briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Police – Enhanced Firearm

Register System, Collaboration with the Centre for Scientific and

Industrial Research and Waymark Contract Status

SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE

CONTENTS

• Section 1 – Background.

• Section 2 - Streamlining of the Enhanced Firearms Register System.

• Section 3 – Collaboration with the Centre for Scientific and Industrial

Research and the Firearm Control System Waymark Contract.

• Section 4 - Way Forward, Strategic Priorities.

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SECTION 1:

BACKGROUND

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Background

• The Enhanced Firearms Register System (EFRS) contains all the

functionality required to support the processes prescribed by the

Firearms Control Act , 2000 (Act No 60 of 2000).

• The Firearms Register System (FRS) provides only for the following two

functions:

– The issuing of duplicate green licence cards in terms of the Arms and

Ammunition Act (75 of 1969):

• Which will remain operational due to the court interdict of 26 June 2009 between The

SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SAHGCA) and the Minister of Safety

and Security; and

– Register / Enquiry WR (Weapons Register), Numbers (Firearm Serial Number) in

terms of the Arms and Ammunition Act.

SECTION 2: STREAMLINING

THE ENHANCED FIREARMS

REGISTER SYSTEM (EFRS)

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Initiatives Implemented to Streamline the EFRS (1)

• Migration of FRS to the EFRS:

– The functions of the FRS, which are generic to firearm processes, have been

migrated to the EFRS.

• Profiling Report:

– The development of the interface between the Profiling and the Firearms Systems

to generate a profile report to enable the extracting of data relevant to the

person / applicant from various other SAPS systems e.g.:

• CRIM System (Police Clearance Certificates);

• CAS (Circulation of Firearms – Lost & Stolen); Profiling System (Person History Profile);

and

• Circulation System (Wanted Persons) etc.

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Initiatives Implemented to Streamline the EFRS (2)

• Refusal of Applications:

– To provide for system-generated refusal letters; and

– Enable the Deciding Officers to capture comprehensive refusal reasons if

required.

• Firearms e-Submission Solution:

– A functionality was developed to capture stock returns (Dealers, Manufacturers

and Gunsmiths) electronically as opposed to the current manual process.

– Discussions with Division: Visible Policing to initiate the process are underway.

• Ratio Reports:

– In order to alleviate the pressure on the current EFRS, ratio reports are drawn

from the EFRS and made available on a workspace (repository) for users to access

with ease.

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Initiatives Implemented to Streamline the EFRS (3)

• Cooling-off Period:

– Developed functionality to serve as a cooling-off period during the process to

approve a licence to prevent the capturing of the wrong decision etc.

• Number of days to process an application:

– A system alert to alert to users if the targeted 90 Days to process a Competency

Certificate or Firearm Licence application is exceeded.

• System Generated Notification:

– The enhancement of the EFRS Renewal Notification was finalised to provide the

system-generated notification letter for the Renewal of Licence.

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Initiatives Implemented to Streamline the EFRS (4)

• Valid Competency Certificates:

– Prevents the capturing of new firearm licence applications if the applicant does

not possess a valid Competency Certificate.

• Expired Licences:

– Prevents the capturing of late renewal applications that have reached the 90

days and did not renew timeously.

• Enhanced SMS system notifications:

– Additional SMS notifications were implemented to inform applicants regarding

timeous submission of:

• Renewals;

• Expired licenses; and

• Lost / stolen firearms etc.

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Initiatives Implemented to Streamline the EFRS (5)

• EFRS Training Manuals:

– Standing Operational Procedures (SOP) and Designated Firearm Officer (DFO)

system training manuals (25 modules) made available on SAPS Intranet as quick

reference for users.

• Renewal of Competency Certificates:

– To enable the capturing of applications for renewal of Competency Certificates.

• Persons declared unfit applying for competency after period of 5 years:

– The EFRS was enhanced to allow registration of a competency application by a

person who was declared unfit, but prevents the approval of such an application

until the Deciding Officer has uplifted the declaration of unfitness.

SECTION 3 – COLLABORATION

WITH THE CENTRE FOR

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL

RESEARCH AND THE FIREARM

CONTROL SYSTEM WAYMARK

CONTRACT

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Firearm Control System Assessments by the CSIR

(1)

• 2014-09-15 - Divisional Commissioner: Supply Chain Management

approved the terms of reference (ToR) and submitted the ToR to the SAPS /

CSIR Bilateral Committee (as instructed by the National Commissioner).

• 2015-02-25 - A request to prioritise the submission of the ToR to the

Bilateral Committee was submitted by Divisional Commissioner: Technology

Management Services.

• 2015-08-04 - CSIR responded, acknowledged the request to prioritise the

FCS submission, provided a quotation and requested that the delivery

schedule of the three assessments, namely: FCS, Property Control and Exhibit

Management (PCEM), Investigation Case Dockets Management System

(ICDMS) be agreed to, taking all three into account sequentially.

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Firearm Control System Assessments by the CSIR

(2)

• 2015-12-07 - SAPS requested a revised quotation to include the

vendor costs if assistance from the vendor was required.

• 2016-04-15 - CSIR provided an updated proposal to conduct the

FCS Assessment / Audit within the framework of a model and

indicated that it should be completed after 35 weeks after start of the

project.

• 2016-04-21 - SAPS requested the CSIR to submit the final proposal

to Division: Supply Chain Management.

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Waymark Contract Legal Process

• The FCS Development Contract between SAPS and Waymark

was confirmed as terminated by the National Commissioner on

14th September 2014.

• Waymark subsequently lodged a request for arbitration.

• Meetings with Advocate Purkin (SC), SAPS Senior Management

and Division: Legal Services, regarding the arbitration of the

Waymark FCS contract, were conducted

– Proposed date for arbitration with Waymark has been set for 20

June 2016.

SECTION 4 – THE WAY

FORWARD, STRATEGIC

PRIORITIES

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The Way Forward, Strategic Priorities

• The National Commissioner approved the proposal to incorporate the building

blocks of both the existing EFRS and FCS designs for a Cohesive Firearms

Solution, pending the CSIR audit.

• The following strategic priorities were identified by Division: TMS to enhance the

EFRS to provide added proactive and responsive policing services to reduce the

levels of priority crimes:

– Incorporate Persons Identification Verification Application (PIVA) interface with Dept.

of Home Affairs and enhance the scanning of images process to expedite the

processing of the Firearms Applications;

– Incorporate Biometric Access Control to ensure authentication and non- repudiation

on the system;

– Develop an enhanced barcode for the firearm licences pending the print and

distribution process of firearm licences by Government Printing Works; and

– Develop an interface with CAS / ICDMS for the circulation of found firearms.

THANK YOU