STANDING ORDER (GENERAL) 325 CLOSING OF CASE DOCKETS 1. BACKGROUND The purpose of this Order is to regulate the control over the closing of case dockets to ensure that each case was properly investigated and that all possible sources of information have been explored. 2. DEFINITIONS In this Order, unless the context otherwise indicates, (a) Detective Commander means any member appointed in command of the detective service at a station, whether permanently or temporarily; (b) Station Commander means any member appointed in command of a police station, whether permanently or temporarily; and (c) Unit Commander means any member appointed in command of a detective unit serving one or more police stations (FCS unit, Stock Theft unit, etc.), whether permanently or temporarily. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF A DETECTIVE COMMANDER (1) A Detective Commander must ensure that cases are properly investigated and that all possible sources of information have been explored before closing a case docket. (2) Neglect with the reckless disregard of the consequences, may possibly be regarded as defeating the ends of justice and will be viewed in a very serious light. (3) The fact that the Director of Public Prosecutions or a Public Prosecutor has declined to prosecute in no way absolves a commander from ensuring that a case is properly investigated and does not justify the closing of a partially investigated case. It is the duty of the investigating official to place all available facts before Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 1 of 11
the Director of Public Prosecutions or a Public Prosecutor in order to for him or her to take a well informed decision regarding a case docket. (4) Before a commander closes a case, he or she must give suitable instructions regarding the disposal of exhibits, cancellation of warrants and any other action which, from the nature of the case, is necessary, and ensure that it is carried out (Also see paragraph 6 of SO(G) 324). 5. DUTIES OF DETECTIVE COMMANDERS A case which cannot be sent for trial must be closed by a commanding officer under one of the following headings: (1) WITHDRAWN (a) This classification must not to be used for the closing of a case which would otherwise have been closed as "Undetected". If an offence has been reported and there is sufficient evidence that the accused has committed it, the Police may not "withdraw" the case simply because they consider a prosecution undesirable. In such a case the Police must refer the case to the Public Prosecutor, whose function and responsibility it would then be to determine whether to prosecute or not. If the prosecutor declines to prosecute, the docket may be closed as " Withdrawn". Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 2 of 11
(b) In a less serious case, a complainant may be allowed to withdraw a charge not yet referred to the Public Prosecutor, but this may not be permitted in a serious case, or in any other case if the circumstances are such that, in the interests of public justice, the charge should be proceeded with. Before permitting a charge to be withdrawn, the commanding officer must satisfy himself that there has been no attempt at compounding. In each such case the complainant should be required to sign a statement requesting the withdrawal of the charge and giving his/her reasons therefor. (c) Should a complainant wish to withdraw a charge after the case docket has been sent to the Public Prosecutor, he or she must be referred to the relevant prosecutor. On no account should the Police suggest to a complainant that he or she should withdraw a charge. (2) UNDETECTED (a) Whenever the investigation of a case has failed to disclose the perpetrator and it is furthermore clear that the offence was actually committed, the case docket must invariably be closed as "Undetected". In a case of stock theft, there is often some doubt as to whether the stock was actually stolen. Unless the missing stock or a very substantial portion thereof has been recovered or the complainant has undoubtedly made a mistake, then such stock must be presumed to have been stolen and the Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 3 of 11
Case Docket must be closed as "Undetected". (b) If a complainant who reported a case cannot later be traced, the case docket must always be closed as "Undetected - complainant not traced". This manner of closing must be substantiated through affidavits by witnesses [neighbours, etc] and the investigating officer. (c) If a warrant has been issued for the arrest of a person whose identity is known, the case docket must be closed as "Undetected - Warrant Issued". To ensure that further enquiries, aimed at the tracing of the accused are instituted, the Commander closing the docket as "Undetected - Warrant Issued" must, according to the circumstances of each case, determine the month and year when the docket must again receive attention and endorse the same on the docket in red ink. (d) If it will serve no purpose to devote further attention to such a case, the case docket must be marked "File - Final". The warrant is not cancelled in such a case. [See Sections 18 and 277 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No 51 of 1977)] (e) The cancellation of a warrant of arrest is based on the availability of the complainant, witnesses, etc. The premise should be whether the case can still be proved in court. If a case cannot, for one or other reason, be proved in court, the warrant must be cancelled. Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 4 of 11
(f) An investigating officer cannot have a warrant of arrest cancelled before such an instruction is given by the Station, Detective or Unit Commander. (g) If the person who issued the warrant is not available, an officer may cancel the warrant. If a warrant has been cancelled, the endorsement Warrant Issued" on the docket must be deleted and initialled by the Commander. (h) The Commander closing a case docket as "Undetected", must [if stolen property, such as a fire-arm, camera or radio, of which the serial number is known, may possibly be recovered after the lapse of five years, or due to extraordinary circumstances] determine the month and year when the case docket must receive further attention make the following endorsement in red ink on the cover of the case docket: "Circulated - Do not destroy before... (date)." The case docket must be endorsed to be brought forward five (5) years after the corresponding month in which it was registered, on which date it must again be presented to a commanding officer for further instructions. (i) The Commander closing a case docket as "Undetected", in which Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 5 of 11
identifiable finger-/palm-prints were found, must make the following endorsement in red ink on the cover of the case docket: Positive fingerprints "Do not destroy before... (date)." The case docket must be endorsed to be brought forward five (5) years after the corresponding month in which it was registered, on which date it must again be presented to a commanding officer for further instructions. (j) In cases where it was established that a particular criminal is also responsible for other offences committed at diverse places, without the name of the criminal being known must be kept for 10 years before the docket is destroyed. The Commander the case docket in such a case must determine when the case docket must receive further attention and make the following endorsement in red ink on the cover of the case docket: "Do not destroy before... (date)". (k) In a case in which the accused was convicted and sentenced, and in which identifiable finger-/palm-prints are still available, but do not correspond with those of the accused, that case docket must be endorsed and dealt with as set out in subparagraph (2)(i). Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 6 of 11
(l) Should it be required to keep a docket longer than the prescribed destruction date, the Local Criminal Record Centre concerned must be notified of the period their finger-print docket is to be kept and the date on which it may be destroyed. (m) The Commander closing the docket in a murder case as "Undetected", must give an indication whether, in his opinion, it is really a case of murder or culpable homicide. The following endorsement must be made on the docket: "Undetected (Murder)", or "Undetected (Culpable Homicide)". (n) The Commander who closes a docket as Undetected where a vehicle was stolen or hijacked, must indicate whether the vehicle was recovered or not. The following endorsement must be made on the docket: "Undetected (R)", or "Undetected (NR)". A case docket closed as "Undetected (NR)", must be endorsed and dealt with in terms of paragraph 2(h). Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 7 of 11
(3) UNFOUNDED This classification may only be used when the investigation clearly discloses that an offence has not been committed, for example when property, alleged to have been stolen, is found to have been mislaid or lost, or if a mistake has undoubtedly been made in the checking of goods or the counting of stock, or if, from where a carcass is found or other indications, it is clear that stock reported stolen has died as a result of disease, starvation or an accident, drowning or was killed by a wild animal. (4) The closing of dockets as "Unfounded", "Withdrawn" or "Undetected", shall be accepted as proof that the instructions mentioned in paragraph 4 have been complied with and that the case docket may be filed. 5. FILE (1) A case docket in which the investigation was successfully completed, but criminal proceedings were not instituted because the accused (a) (b) was killed by the Police at the time of arrest, committed suicide or died as a result of natural causes, or has already been sentenced, is serving a sentence or is a juvenile, and for this reason the Director of Public Prosecutions or Public Prosecutor Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 8 of 11
is not prepared to institute criminal proceedings, may not to be closed as "Undetected" or "Withdrawn". (2) In a case referred to in subparagraph (1)(b) which can be conclusively proven in court, the accused is charged and the Case Docket placed before the relevant Director of Public Prosecutions or Public Prosecutor. Should that official decide against continuing with the trial, the charge is withdrawn in court. A case which was withdrawn in court because the accused is deceased, is, after closing, filed in the bundle of concluded case dockets. (3) If the accused is found not guilty on a charge of a crime with a code number below 500, or if such a case is disposed of or withdrawn in court, the docket must be marked "file" and signed by a commanding officer as proof that all the points mentioned in Standing Order (General) 324 and any other steps which by the nature of the case are necessary, have received attention. (4) All other dockets which are concluded in a court must be marked "file" and signed by the commanding officer as proof that all points mentioned in Standing Order (General) 324 and any other steps which are necessary by the nature of the case, have received attention. (5) If a legal representative informs the Service in writing that civil proceedings may arise from a particular case docket, the words "Civil Claim" must be clearly endorsed on the cover in red ink. The case docket is kept for a period of three (3) years, from the date of the endorsement. There after the docket is disposed of, unless prior notice is given that the civil proceedings have been finalised or have been abandoned. The case docket must not be filed in the bundle of closed case dockets, but must be kept in the relevant correspondence file until it can be disposed of in accordance with prescribed procedures. Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 9 of 11
(6) If a possibility exists that a case docket, which was finalized at court after a finding of "Guilty", "Not Guilty " or "Withdrawn", will be required again, the commanding officer marking it "File", endorses the date upon which the case docket must again be brought forward, in red ink on the cover of the case docket. (7) When a Commander disposes of a case docket, in which the accused, after he or she appeared in court, failed to attend court again and a warrant for his arrest was issued, he or she must make the following endorsement in red ink on the cover of the case docket: "Keep with 'Undetected - Warrant Issued' cases. Bring forward on... (future date)." (8) If a case docket of murder, treason, kidnapping, child stealing, rape and crimes where aggravating circumstances are present, to wit, robbery or attempted robbery, or an offence [whether under the common law or an act, or not] of house-breaking or attempted house-breaking with the intent to commit a crime, is closed as "Undetected", withdrawn in court, or "Withdrawn" by a Commander, he/she must make the following endorsement in red ink on the cover of the case docket: "Bring forward on... (date)" [15 years after report]. [See section 277, read with section 18, of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977).] (9) A case which is withdrawn in court because the accused is deceased, is closed as File. (10) If a case docket is closed by an officer or another member, his signature on the cover must at all times be identified in print or by means of a name stamp. (11) The Detective Service Commander must ensure that the correct adjudication is recorded on CAS when case docket are closed. (12) A case docket may not be destroyed until such time as the moratorium on Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 10 of 11
the destruction of public records have been lifted. Division: Detective Service V02.00 Page 11 of 11