New police trainees take to the streets

The trainees were part of the 1 878 police students, who completed a six-month course in policing at the SAPS Training College in Pretoria West on June 23.

Provincial Commissioner Calvin Sengani handed out certificates to the candidates who have completed their courses in crime prevention, crime investigations, physical fitness and street survival.

Commissioner Sengani has recently been re-appointed as the provincial commissioner of police by the South African government.

Mirror’s correspondent approached the national spokesperson of the Department of Safety and Security, Mr Selby Bokaba, about the future of police trainees in South Africa. He said the SAPS had also begun, in the 2005/5 financial year, to recruit 11 000 new trainees annually to bring the expected capacity to 178 000 by the year 2009. Thirty percent of the 11 000 annual recruits will go to the shortage of investigations at police stations,” he ads.

Bokaba said the SAPS have embarked on a process of restructuring, which is intended to strengthen police stations and to improve service delivery to the community. “In 2000, the strength of police personnel at police stations stood at about 70 000, and by 2006, police stations’ capacity had increased to more than 100 000.

The new constables are expected to report at various police stations within a fortnight, and will be unleashed immediately to the streets to combat crime.

News - Date: 28 July 2006

Godfrey Mandiwana

Email: