SA re-enlists more than 500 former policemen
The South African Police Service has re-employed at least 548 former officers in an effort to bolster its fight against crime.
Spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said there were 1105 re-enlistment posts that needed to be filled, and that 3152 applications had been received from officers who had left the service.
“It must be noted that the focus of this exercise was on quality and not quantity. Therefore, from the 3152 applications received, only 548 former members have been provisionally approved for re-enlistment. Of this number 309 will be deployed to the visible policing environment, 192 to detectives and 47 to the support environment,” Naidoo said on Thursday.
“Some of these members have already commenced with their duties, while others are expected to swell the ranks between now and February 2016.”
Only former members with no criminal records, no pending criminal cases against them and a track record of good performance were recruited, Naidoo said.
The SAPS embarked on a recruitment drive of former officers earlier this year, and said the re-enlistment process would not replace or affect the normal recruitment and training process.
Naidoo said 4500 new recruits would be enlisted by March next year.