Cops drop out at 100 a month

12 October 2015 - 02:40 By Penwell Dlamini

The fight against crime in Gauteng is taking a serious knock as the number of police on the beat drops by more than 100 a month. The shocking state of human resources hobbling the efforts of the police in Gauteng has been laid bare by provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba in a report to the community safety portfolio committee in the provincial assembly."The situation is bad. We are losing 130 members a month [and] it takes about 24 months to recruit a new officer," Mothiba told the committee on Friday.Mothiba said that one of his biggest worries was officers being fired for criminality.In the 2014-2015 financial year Gauteng lost 1 438 police officers.Of these:110 were fired;60 died off duty;24 died in car accidents;20 committed suicide; and16 were killed while on duty."We are concerned that the province is losing so many officers every month," said portfolio committee chairman Sochayile Khanyile. "But our biggest concern is that some of them are leaving because they have been expelled."We want Mothiba to tell us what he's going to do to prevent those supposedly defending and protecting us from turning to crime."..

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