"Up-skilling and training of police officers must be ongoing," he said in a statement.

"We urge officer[s] to ensure they utilise the knowledge gained to make a dent in the fight against crime."

Mthethwa said refresher training should be relevant and should help police reduce crimes such as sexual offences.

"As we reiterated in the past, priority must be placed on fighting crime against women, children, and the elderly."

For the financial year 2008/09, 669 police officers received extra training in dealing with sexual offences.

This number rose to 2906 in 2009/10, to 2272 in 2010/11, and to 2203 in 2011/12.

Mthethwa said re-establishing the family violence, child protection, and sexual offences units had helped ensure officer training was ongoing.

He stressed the importance of police discipline and challenged police management to intensify discipline throughout the service.

"Contrary to public perceptions that management is lenient on some of these members, actions are actually being taken against members who do not uphold discipline," he said.