Police in the Eastern Cape are on a drive to recruit 496 new officers.The SAPS took out an advertisement in the Daily Dispatch yesterday calling for interested parties to apply.
Of the 496 officers to be hired, 451 will be deployed to the police’s client service centres (CSC) across the province, also known as frontline policing. A further 45 will be deployed to Crime Intelligence Units.
Of the total, 24 will be deployed to the Butterworth cluster, 20 to East London, 30 to King William’s Town and 35 to Mthatha.
This is part of a nationwide job drive by the service, which aims to hire 6252 new police officers by the end of the 2015-16 financial year.
National police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale yesterday said they were looking for candidates who would add value to the organisation.
“Of the 6252 additional personnel, 5000 will be appointed in terms of the South African Police Act in areas where the police are in need of additional capacity.
“This includes the detective services, visible policing, crime intelligence, forensic services, and protection and security services environment.
“Forensic services will have 500 new forensic analysts while 400 graduates will be allocated to crime intelligence,” Makgale said.
The recruitment campaign follows hot on the heels of an invitation two months ago to former police members to re-enlist.
“A total of 2800 applicants were received. About 1000 are former detectives and have expressed interest to rejoin the police.
“The plan is to have these posts filled by the end of the current financial year,” said Makgale.
Makgale said they were looking for applicants who left in good standing with the police.
In the last five years more than 31000 officers have left the force.
Dr Johan Burger, a senior researcher in the governance, crime and justice division at the Institute for Security Studies NGO, said the recruitment drive was expected.
“The number of police officers leaving the organisation is exponentially high and the SAPS has to make up for the losses, especially at divisions that suffered the most,” Burger said.
“My only issue with this recruitment is that the police are hoping to replace experienced officers who left for various reasons with new recruits, instead of using experienced officers within the organisation to fill those critical posts,” Burger said.
He said it was a good initiative that needed to be managed correctly.
The chairman of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the province, Loyiso Mdingi, said recruiting new police officers was needed to address a critical shortage.
He said personal problems were driving officers out of the force.
“There are a lot of reasons why police resign – some are facing financial problems and resign so that they can get a lump sum to sort out their problems.
“Some resign because of stress or because they don’t see eye-to-eye with their commanders.
“But now here is an opportunity for them to come back and start on a clean slate,” Mdingi said. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Police drive for new officers
Of the 496 officers to be hired, 451 will be deployed to the police’s client service centres (CSC) across the province, also known as frontline policing. A further 45 will be deployed to Crime Intelligence Units.
Of the total, 24 will be deployed to the Butterworth cluster, 20 to East London, 30 to King William’s Town and 35 to Mthatha.
This is part of a nationwide job drive by the service, which aims to hire 6252 new police officers by the end of the 2015-16 financial year.
National police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale yesterday said they were looking for candidates who would add value to the organisation.
“Of the 6252 additional personnel, 5000 will be appointed in terms of the South African Police Act in areas where the police are in need of additional capacity.
“This includes the detective services, visible policing, crime intelligence, forensic services, and protection and security services environment.
“Forensic services will have 500 new forensic analysts while 400 graduates will be allocated to crime intelligence,” Makgale said.
The recruitment campaign follows hot on the heels of an invitation two months ago to former police members to re-enlist.
“A total of 2800 applicants were received. About 1000 are former detectives and have expressed interest to rejoin the police.
“The plan is to have these posts filled by the end of the current financial year,” said Makgale.
Makgale said they were looking for applicants who left in good standing with the police.
In the last five years more than 31000 officers have left the force.
Dr Johan Burger, a senior researcher in the governance, crime and justice division at the Institute for Security Studies NGO, said the recruitment drive was expected.
“The number of police officers leaving the organisation is exponentially high and the SAPS has to make up for the losses, especially at divisions that suffered the most,” Burger said.
“My only issue with this recruitment is that the police are hoping to replace experienced officers who left for various reasons with new recruits, instead of using experienced officers within the organisation to fill those critical posts,” Burger said.
He said it was a good initiative that needed to be managed correctly.
The chairman of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the province, Loyiso Mdingi, said recruiting new police officers was needed to address a critical shortage.
He said personal problems were driving officers out of the force.
“There are a lot of reasons why police resign – some are facing financial problems and resign so that they can get a lump sum to sort out their problems.
“Some resign because of stress or because they don’t see eye-to-eye with their commanders.
“But now here is an opportunity for them to come back and start on a clean slate,” Mdingi said. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos