January 17, 2006
By Anish Abraham
JOBURG'S Metro Police Department is cementing its position as one of the most innovative local law enforcement agencies in the country, and its latest effort is an SMS service that allows motorists to find out if they have any fines.
The service is yet another module in the department's Integrated Information Management System (I2MS), designed by black empowerment IT company 2Big Mobile. The objective of I2MS is to help create a fully operational high technology metro policing system by 2030.
A service that allowed officers to check for warrants of arrest over their cellphones, the first module, was launched in 2004.
The latest module was launched by Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) director of operations Derrick Masoek and Mokgatle Maesela, the executive director of 2Big Mobile, at JMPD headquarters in Martindale, on 17 January.
"We need to keep up with the times and also with advances in technology," Masoek said. "We also have to improve means of contact with residents, thereby improving the City's service delivery."
Motorists wanting to check whether they have any outstanding fines, summonses or warrants of arrest can SMS their ID numbers to 36997.
On the first use, users will be given a password that they have to send back to the number for authentication. In this way, only authorised people will be able to access details about fines using an ID number.
Motorists will instantly receive a notification at a cost of R5 an SMS. Maesela hopes to upgrade the system to a point where one can have a monthly subscription with any notifications of fines automatically sent by SMS to the user.
"This is a unique service and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department is the first to use it," he added.
Masoek said metro police was also in "continuous discussions" with the traffic departments of other municipalities, which had shown an interest in the new system.
"We also launched a web-based query system for checking summonses and warrants, but not that many [people] have access to the internet. However, there are millions of people who use cellphones and this makes it easier for them," he said.
There have been more than 35 000 queries about outstanding summonses and warrants on the City website.
The use of such technology ties in with the department's Operation Token Days and the City Safety Strategy. Overall, the City has collected about R200-million from more than 900 000 fines in the past 400 days.
Offender Contact Centre
Another feature of I2MS is a call centre based in Selby, which tracks down people with outstanding summonses and warrants, especially those whose personal details have changed.
Since October 2004 the Offender Contact Centre has successfully traced a number of offenders, resulting in at least an extra R1,4-million being paid monthly for fines.
The centre contacts about 1 800 people a month who have outstanding fines, summonses and warrants.
"This could be much higher, but about 4 500 offenders a month are untraceable due to changes of personal information or migration," Masoek said.
Metro police compiles a "hit list" of the city's 10 000 worst offenders and tries to contact them in order to take further action. Some have more than 50 warrants and 100 stagnant cases against them. "It's scary how some motorists behave," Masoek added.
Contrary to perceptions, the majority of offenders are drivers of private motor vehicles and are not the infamous minibus taxi drivers.
The centre also advises motorists on how to settle their offences to avoid further action.
At a price, but worth it
Joburg has spent about R60-million on the I2MS system to date and there are further modules being developed to expand the system. However, the final cost is subject to several things, like Service Level Agreements and performance.
A huge portion of the funds will also be used for the new command centre being built at the Martindale headquarters.
"It seems like a lot, but some money which was not collected is now being received and added to the City's revenue. Also the company chosen was giving us the best deal," Masoek explained.
A benefit to the cost is that all applications developed for the JMPD by 2Big Mobile are the intellectual property of the City, which can sell or license them for others to use.
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