When the task of winning the war against criminals appears daunting, the last thing we need is police officers who don't inspire confidence
LAST THURSDAY Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa released the latest crime statistics, which showed that a number of reported crimes had begun to decline.
However, rapes and ATM robberies, among others, continue to spoil the otherwise promising trend.
Compared with the previous reported period, the latest statistics are indeed laudable. But, this is merely a downward trend. It does not mean crime has disappeared or is about to.
The underlying causes have also not been appreciated and addressed.
What is worrying is that, though murder rates show a downward trend, the number of police killed on duty appears to be on the increase.
National police commissioner General Bheki Cele's "shoot to kill" strategy - encouraging police officers to shoot back when their lives are in danger - doesn't seem to be bearing fruit.
And it appears some officers are being targeted while off duty, like the North West Hawks officer killed in his home a week ago.
On the other hand, we have policemen bent on giving the police a bad name by participating in criminal activities. When the task of winning the war against criminals appears daunting, the last thing we need is police officers who don't inspire confidence.
As we have reported before, some police officers have been arrested by their colleagues for aiding ATM bombers.
These officers are effectively working to achieve the opposite of what they were employed to do. It is therefore not surprising that ATM bombings are increasing.
The officers who are part of these bombings are more dangerous than the criminals they are aiding because they have inside knowledge about the internal operations of the police.
Some officers were recently arrested at the Lebombo border gate between South Africa and Mozambique.
They were allegedly involved in aiding cross-border related crimes. These officers are as dangerous as those who seek to undermine the stability of the country by murdering police officers.
While Cele promotes "shoot to kill" and matching criminals "toe-to-toe", he has yet to state clearly how he intends dealing with the rotten apples within the ranks of the police.
It's untenable for police officers to either become the statistics of murders or to help in the increase of some crimes by being criminals themselves.
Weed out bent cops
When the task of winning the war against criminals appears daunting, the last thing we need is police officers who don't inspire confidence
LAST THURSDAY Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa released the latest crime statistics, which showed that a number of reported crimes had begun to decline.
However, rapes and ATM robberies, among others, continue to spoil the otherwise promising trend.
Compared with the previous reported period, the latest statistics are indeed laudable. But, this is merely a downward trend. It does not mean crime has disappeared or is about to.
The underlying causes have also not been appreciated and addressed.
What is worrying is that, though murder rates show a downward trend, the number of police killed on duty appears to be on the increase.
National police commissioner General Bheki Cele's "shoot to kill" strategy - encouraging police officers to shoot back when their lives are in danger - doesn't seem to be bearing fruit.
And it appears some officers are being targeted while off duty, like the North West Hawks officer killed in his home a week ago.
On the other hand, we have policemen bent on giving the police a bad name by participating in criminal activities. When the task of winning the war against criminals appears daunting, the last thing we need is police officers who don't inspire confidence.
As we have reported before, some police officers have been arrested by their colleagues for aiding ATM bombers.
These officers are effectively working to achieve the opposite of what they were employed to do. It is therefore not surprising that ATM bombings are increasing.
The officers who are part of these bombings are more dangerous than the criminals they are aiding because they have inside knowledge about the internal operations of the police.
Some officers were recently arrested at the Lebombo border gate between South Africa and Mozambique.
They were allegedly involved in aiding cross-border related crimes. These officers are as dangerous as those who seek to undermine the stability of the country by murdering police officers.
While Cele promotes "shoot to kill" and matching criminals "toe-to-toe", he has yet to state clearly how he intends dealing with the rotten apples within the ranks of the police.
It's untenable for police officers to either become the statistics of murders or to help in the increase of some crimes by being criminals themselves.