Where's the Justice? - [website] Published: 28th of Jul 2011 by: Ms Knowitall
Earlier this year South Africans were shocked to hear of the death of Andries Tatane at the hands of our boys in blue, yet only now are reports surfacing of the deaths of many policemen at the hands of criminals.
The figures are shocking.
From January this year to now at least fifty-three police officers have lost their lives in the course of duty, the most recent of which happened this morning (Thursday) when two officers were gunned down in Sebokeng, south of Johannesburg.
Another officer lost his life yesterday when he was shot dead at the Joe Slovo informal settlement.
This raises some serious concerns, and perhaps poses more questions than it answers.
Firstly, with statistics like this it becomes a bit more understandable why the police force is so, well, forceful. I mean, if you knew that fifty-odd of your colleagues had been murdered while doing the same job you do, wouldn’t you become a little nervous when things start heating up?
It must be a harrowing experience for a cop to be surrounded by a mob of protestors, all shouting, running and becoming unruly, knowing that at any minute one of the protestors might lose their mind and open fire on the police.
It also begs the question: How cheap has life become that murder is so easy to commit?
But are we to blame the criminals for the terrible loss of life in our police force, or is the answer a little closer to home?
Well yes, the criminals are the ones blasting their guns, but one has to ask the question, if the police were better trained, would these statistics be so high?
We blamed the Tatane murder on insufficient police training, so why should we assume when it comes to other aspects of the job that the training is any better?
It seems that the police are putting themselves in unnecessarily dangerous situations – with no back up – and in so doing allow this to happen. Perhaps they panic, split up from their partners or are just too unfit to do their jobs properly.
Whatever the reason is, it needs to be addressed now, and someone needs to be held accountable.
Now is the time to invest in training for the South African Police Service. Before any more senseless killing, and before being a cop in SA is too dangerous for anyone to consider as a career.
