Statement issued by: Dianne Kohler-Barnard, DA spokesperson on Safety & Security
SAPS senior management have stated that every police officer has a bullet-proof vest – yet the Minister of Safety and Security says that they are 7 458 vests short. Who do we believe?
In a strategic planning session held in February 2008, the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security was assured by senior SAPS management that there was no shortage of bullet-proof vests. However, according to a parliamentary reply received recently, the police are short of 7,458 bullet-proof vests.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls upon the Minister of Safety and Security and his deputy to focus their attention on the basics of policing and to make sure that every police officer is kept safe.
To learn that the same Deputy Minister who created confusion over the right of police to use deadly force is also partly responsible for the failure to issue basic safety equipment shows that the Minister and his Deputy are all about playing to the gallery and not doing their actual jobs. The rush to score cheap political points simply serves to distract the public from the real problems - our police are not even properly equipped to perform their duties.
Given the fact that there are 1124 police stations in the country, this means that there is an average shortage of 7 bullet-proof vests per station.
Last year, the DA conducted a series of police station visits and learned that most stations visited were short of torches, handcuffs, vehicles, cellphones, radios, roadblock kits, pepper spray and portable blue lights.
The DA calls upon the Minister to get the basics of policing right: high quality recruits, professional training and adequate equipment. Unless these basic three elements are in place, the police will never get the upper hand in the fight against crime.
No comments:
Post a Comment