Letter to Mail and Guardian newspaperFor Attention : Sello Alcock- 20 January 2010 In response to your questions the South African Policing Union (SAPU) with 85 000 paid members in the SAPS would like to state it categorically clear we fully support any genuine initiatives to beef up security in the country not only for the World Cup but 365 days in a year. We are of the view that the SAPS’ initiative of recruiting 50 000 more police that are ex-officers will never be realized because where they are not they are well paid. Do we need managers or functionary members? If these ex-officers come back, the SAPS must be prepared to pay them adequately. Most of those ex-officers are currently based in well paying jobs that no sane person can leave and join a peanut paying employer like the SAPS. The conditions that caused those members to leave the SAPS are still there. On the skills shortage issue, we can say without any fear of contradiction that there is a skills shortage in the SAPS. We mean areas like Forensics, Ballistic, Finger Prints, Pilots, Dog Unit, Bomb Squad, I.T Specialists etc. The SAPS management lacks the political will to resolve challenges faced by the members. We have been submitting proposals to the management. What we have realized most of those proposals are being ignored by management who lack the basic policing understanding. SAPU would like once more to state it that it is meaningless to have thousands of officers who lack the needed skills to police. To put it clear quantity means nothing, what we want is quality. The current 180 000 members in the SAPS is enough to tackle crime if it is given the necessary training and support. Let those 50 000 ex officers come back if they will, we doubt it will happen. We really need them. We call upon the SAPS management to show the political willingness to resolve challenges faced by our members on a daily basis. We would like to appeal to management to avoid recruiting those bad apples that were discharged from the SAPS. We also call upon management to use the process of vetting them the say way that is currently being used with normal recruits. Together we will make the difference Oscar Skommere |