Constable Norman Mohlarhi was on patrol at Stretford railway station in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, in the early hours of Thursday when shots rang out. Minutes later, the 34-year-old, shot in the head, was dead.His death is the latest in a string of police killings and attacks that, in 10 days, have left five other officers dead and four injured. In fact, Mohlarhi was one of three officers attacked in just 24 hours.Also on Thursday, Warrant Officer Herman Prins was shot in the cheek at a carwash in Mitchells Plain while off duty. Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Sergeant Abraham Khanyile, 48, was shot in the shoulder while responding to a robbery at Mandeni Mall in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Both are being treated in hospital.No arrests have been made for Mohlarhi's murder.story_article_left1According to official police figures given to the Sunday Times this week, 55 officers have been murdered in the first eight months of the year - 26 of them on duty. This weekend alone, at least three officers were buried.Since the 2010-11 financial year, 421 officers have been killed - more than half of them while off duty.Most of the deaths have been in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.Mohlarhi's cousin, Thomson Mkhawana, said the family were devastated. Mohlarhi's wife, Thandi, who is seven months pregnant, was taking the most strain.The couple also had a three-year-old son."This is hard for her. Her husband was always involved in raising the children. Now she will be all alone."As much as we will be there for them, we can never give them what they would have had from their father. Norman loved his family."He was full of jokes and was dedicated to his work," said Mkhawana, who rushed off to Orange Farm after hearing about the shooting."I still can't believe how someone can be murdered like a dog," he said.In light of this most recent killing, hard questions are being asked of the police's top brass - particularly whether officers are adequately trained.block_quotes_start Policing in a democratic state is different to policing in an autocratic environment. There ’s no ‘skop en donner‘, which we experienced in apartheid block_quotes_endSpeaking at a night vigil held for the dead officers in Johannesburg on Friday, national commissioner General Riah Phiyega denied that police were undertrained."Our training is doing very well. I'm not sure why people are saying that," said Phiyega."If you look at the number of attacks the police get, not just the deaths, it is a high number. We hover anywhere between 74 and 80 police killings a year, so it's been constant over time."Phiyega described violence against police as "abnormal"."We have to rid society of abnormalities. Rest assured, we will not be deterred."We will improve our game and zealously bring to book those who never think twice when shooting and murdering police officials," she said.mini_story_image_vright1South African Policing Union general secretary Oscar Skommere said he was concerned about officers' level of training but agreed with Phiyega that police were up against well-armed criminals who "want to take over".He called for the laws to be reviewed."When you find someone who has killed a police officer, there must be no bail ... And if that person is found guilty, they must not be given parole; they must rot in jail. People must learn that killing a police officer is anarchy," he said.Skommere also called for a parliamentary debate on the "barbaric killings"."Policing in a democratic state is different to policing in an autocratic environment. There's no skop en donner, which we experienced in the old apartheid state. But if you look at how criminals behaved then, they behaved differently to how they behave now," he said.But security experts say the police's inability to deal with violent crime has given rise to a brazen breed of criminals - and, as a result, has put officers' lives at greater risk.The Institute for Security Studies' Gareth Newham said the current police leaders had allowed the robbery and murder situation to get out of hand."The national commissioner and those who support her are simply not fit for those jobs - and their failure is contributing directly to the safety of the officers on the ground," he said.sub_head_start Spotlight on cops' training sub_head_endMany of South Africa's police officers might not have attended even basic refresher training in a number of years, a senior training officer admitted this week.In light of a spate of police killings, hard questions are being asked of South African Police Service management - particularly whether officers are adequately trained. Since January 1, 55 officers have been killed, SAPS figures show.Brigadier Bakkies Breytenbach, SAPS section head of tactical police development, was adamant that the refresher course offered to police gave them all the skills needed for the job - but he conceded that officers were not obliged to attend."These courses run through the year, every year. We aim to get as many police officers to attend these courses. There is no mandate that says you must attend these courses in a certain time period. It is possible that some members haven't attended these courses in a number of years," he said.block_quotes_start [Refresher courses] should really be on a continuous basis to ensure that we are ready for any activity in any circumstances block_quotes_endTwo major police unions this week raised concerns about training, with Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union president Zizamele Cebekhulu saying police members "are not adequately trained"."We have one police academy in Cape Town and one detective academy in Hammanskraal. It tells you, in a country with almost 200, 000 police, those facilities are not enough."There is a need to push ourselves as far as training is concerned, and intensify our ability to fight different types of crime," he said.His colleague, general secretary Nkosinathi Theledi, agreed."The refresher courses ... do happen from time to time, but we are not satisfied that they happen at the pace that they should. It should really be on a continuous basis to ensure that we are ready for any activity in any circumstances," said Theledi.story_article_right2South African Policing Union general secretary Oscar Skommere echoed these sentiments, saying police officers received good training before being deployed in the field but that ongoing training was lacking - especially given how violent and well-equipped criminals are."When you train as a police officer, you're not trained to go into a war zone to fight and kill," he said.Breytenbach said a refresher "tactical policing course" was made available to all officers throughout the year."This course focuses on everything the police officer on duty will deal with, from arrest techniques [to] shooting. It is focused on the duties they will perform. It includes firearm handling, fundamentals of shooting, stop-and-search of vehicles, observation, attending to complaints, planning and execution of operations where you go to someone's house to make an arrest, crime-scene management, tactical movement, house movement, and so on - everything we expect from the average policeman."Breytenbach said these training skills were standard. There were more specialised courses available for specialised units."I think the training is up to standard and that every police killing must be investigated in isolation and to find out what the cause was and how we can prevent it in the future. From a training point of view, our police officers are trained very well, they get enough opportunity to attend courses, and the quality of training is up to standard."savidesm@sundaytimes.co.za, bornmanj@sundaytimes.co.za, ndabenik@sundaytimes.co.za, narseeA@timesmedia.co.za..