Jail your mother if you have to‚ top cop tells rookies

29 July 2016 - 08:54 By Bongani Nkosi

Acting national police boss Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane on Thursday implored newly trained police not to join the ranks of the corrupt. He also urged the rookies to show no favour‚ even if meant having to take a family member into custody‚ and warned them that protecting a life may require taking one in the line of duty. “Do not get tempted and drawn into these corrupt practices‚ corrupt tendencies‚ out there that tarnish the image of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the image of our country.“Your business is to root out corruption‚ root out criminality and make sure that our communities are at all times beneficiaries of the service that we owe to them‚” said Phahlane.He was speaking at the graduation ceremony of 1 715 new police officers at the SAPS Tshwane Training Academy.Proud parents travelled from Mpumalanga‚ North West‚ Gauteng‚ Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal to witness the parade of the new officers. The group‚ with almost equal numbers of males and females‚ looked fairly young.They will be deployed to these provinces as early as next week for the local government elections. Police Minister Nathi Nhleko told media on Thursday that more than 600 communities had been identified as hotspots.Phahlane hammered home the message that officers should be incorruptible: “Policing is a thankless job. Many a times when people talk about us‚ they only talk bad things. When they think of us‚ they think of those that are corrupt.“Let's live true to the code of conduct that me and you have signed. Let's practise the values and principles that are provided for in that code of conduct.“There is no reason that we should be selfish … looking at our own interest as individual members of the police.”Police should prioritise communities at all times‚ Phahlane told the young and new officers: “It is our responsibility to respond to the needs of our community.“We're not going to be apologetic in the work that we're doing. If it means arrest your mother‚ you must do so. If it means arrest your brother‚ you must do so.“If it…is your boyfriend or girlfriend‚ they must be brought behind bars because criminality is something unwanted in our communities.“It doesn’t matter whether these are poor communities or rich communities … the service that they must receive from us is to be equal.”Nhleko reminded the graduates they are joining a profession in which they might have to take a life.“You're now being released to go serve the people you have sworn to protect even with your lives if need be‚” he said.“We’re sending you out there with a primary understanding that your primary role is to protect life and yet this may be achieved by taking a life.” – TMG Digital/Sowetan..

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