Recruitment of 10k cops will make 'huge contribution' - ISS
Senior researcher and policing expert at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Johan Burger says the additional deployment of 10,000 officers will significantly contribute towards the fight against crime over the festive season.
Police Minister Bheki Cele on Sunday announced that the deployment of the new officers would focus on large crowds and areas of entertainment and leisure over the festive season.
Speaking to Jacaranda FM News on Wednesday, Burger said the new recruits should be teamed with more experienced police officers.
This as the new officers are set to begin work on Friday
"The additional deployment of the 10,000 new police officers will certainly make a huge contribution, there is no doubt about that, but it will all depend on how they are deployed and supervised, keeping in mind that we are talking about raw recruits coming directly from the training colleges of the police services.
"They have no field experience, so they should not be deployed on their own; they should be deployed with more experienced officers, and there will have to be good leadership present, such as police officers with higher ranks that can guide these young police officers and in the process assist with the field training."
Although the festive season is usually a stressful time for law enforcement, Burger warned this cannot be allowed to justify police brutality.
This comes after police union POPCRU's president, Thulani Ngwenya, said police brutality could be avoided if people respect the law and constitution.
Incidents such as the 2012 Marikana Massacre, the 2021 killing of Mthokozisi Ntumba, the 2011 killing of Andries Tatane as well a recent incident, where eight VIP officers attached to Deputy President Paul Mashatile were caught on camera beating up motorists on the N1 in Johannesburg, have led to concerns over the state of policing in the country.
Burger said police officers need to be guided by the law when dealing with crime.
"The norm should be the professionalism of the police, the professional conduct of the police. They are trained, and they are guided by law to deal with every situation, keeping in mind that even in training they deal with people that disobey the law and ith criminals.
"The approach by the police should be the legal authority to deal with such situations, and they should apply the legal authority in a professional manner and not be guided by the person disobeying the law. Blaming persons for police brutality is not the way to deal with this problem."
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