DA: Lack of political will puts cops’ lives at risk

With an annual budget of R72.5-billion‚ the South African Police Service has the money. But what is needed is the “political will” to make an “urgent intervention…to bring down crime levels across the country” and ensure “that the scourge of cop murders is brought to an end”‚ the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday.

The party’s shadow police minister‚ Zakhele Mbhele‚ led a delegation to the Hillbrow Police Station “to pay its respects to the fallen members of our police service who have been the victims of brutal criminal activity”.

This followed the murder of two police officers in Gauteng over the weekend.

It was reported this morning that a man suspected of killing one of them — a Hillbrow officer on patrol on Saturday night – was gunned down on Monday while his alleged accomplice was arrested.

“We send our most sincere condolences to the families‚ friends and colleagues of those who have fallen in the line of duty‚ including to those who knew the police officers who were killed this past weekend‚” said Mbhele.

“Their bravery and sacrifice is greatly appreciated and should not go unnoticed.

“When more than four police officers are killed on average a month in a year‚ we need to‚ together as a country say that this cannot be allowed to continue any longer. This needs to stop.”

But to achieve this‚ Mbhele said‚ “we will need a police service that works…a police service that takes every step to ensure all its staff are properly trained‚ and resourced‚ so that they can do their job to the best of their ability”.

His party will table a plan “to address this growing concern” at a meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police on Friday.

He quoted the Institute of Security Studies which said that “required training was non-existent or inadequate‚ there were not enough bullet-proof vests and probably most importantly‚ there was poor managerial supervision and accountability at station and unit level”.

“As a result police officials did not follow proper procedures when responding to complaints‚ searching suspects or making arrests‚ did not use their equipment effectively and were not ‘safety conscious’.”

“This‚” Mbhele said‚ “made them vulnerable to attack during which they could be injured or killed.”

The DA’s proposal includes:

- Research on modus operandi used to kill officers;

- The need for advanced‚ safe‚ firearm training;

- Weapon retention;

- Defending of self when unarmed;

- Specific preparedness for entering calls in regards to domestic violence‚ armed encounters and ambush;

- The need for pre-patrol vehicle checks;

- Safety reminders when transporting detainees;

- Training in the code of conduct officers must adhere to when on duty;

- Predicting the next move;

- The understanding of the concept of “reasonableness” in use-of-force cases;

- How to subdue a non-compliant subject using non-lethal force;

- Officer safety during a vehicle traffic stop;

- Proper crowd control strategies and tactics;

- Tactics for safer‚ faster transport of critically injured persons;

- Resources to prevent police suicide‚ mandatory psychological debriefing after every shooting or death discovery;

- The mandatory wearing of bullet-proof vests with a mounted camera attached; and

- Prevention of officer-on-officer deaths.

“The SAPS leadership need to be honest with themselves. This is not a new problem‚” said Mbhele.

“The failure to bring down the murders of police service is by and large due to a lack of political and operational will.”

“We owe it to the hard-working police officers‚ who risk their lives so that we can be safe‚ to make sure that they are well-resourced‚ and properly trained.

“No police officer should be left vulnerable to attack because of a failure of management to take these issues seriously.”