Deputy Minister of Police Cassel Mathale and senior officials in the South African Police Service have outlined plans of hiring former police officers, building new police stations, and procuring drones and other technologies to fight crime.
Mathale and SAPS members told members of the Select Committee on Petitions and Undertakings in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday about measures they have taken in the last few months to beef up the police.
This was after Police Minister Bheki Cele promised members of the NCOP in May that they would recruit former officers, build new police stations, buy more vehicles, and procure drones.
Brigadier Craig Mitchell of SAPS strategic management said they set aside R1 billion to build new police stations and another R30 million to convert trucks into mobile community service centres.
“In terms of the construction of police stations, we have a Service Level Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to construct seven new police stations,”’ said Mitchell.
He said the new police stations will be built in Limpopo, the North West, Gauteng, the Free State, and the Eastern Cape.
He also said they will build seven temporary police stations in the other provinces.
The SAPS has also set aside R1.8 billion to buy vehicles to improve the visibility of the police.
Out of that R1.8 billion, they had spent R574 million by the end of October on new vehicles for the police.
“Orders to the value of R918m have already been placed and we are awaiting delivery of vehicles,” said Mitchell.
The police have also procured 32 drones. This was part of the technology that the SAPS wanted to use to fight crime.
The technology management division of the police had set aside millions of rands to procure drones, body-worn cameras, and shot spotters. The shot spotters will be used in high-density crime areas.
Out of the 10,000 new officers that were recruited this year, almost 3,000 will be deployed to the detective services of the SAPS.
Political parties and police officials have complained about the shortage of detectives and that those who were leaving the service were not replaced. There was a shortage of 8,000 detectives.
In his State of the Nation Address (Sona), President Cyril Ramaphosa said they were going to hire 10,000 new officers every year for the next three years.
This will add 30,000 more officers to the police force.
Cele said the new recruits will be deployed to specialised units.
Mitchell said the selection process to hire former SAPS members has started.
They were expecting that the former members of the police would start in January next year.
However, he would not give the number of former SAPS members who are being brought back to the police to fight crime.
Politics