Flying squad and crime prevention unit police officers were yesterday pulled off from the streets and ordered to replace scores of striking SAPS 10111 centre employees, says the SA Police Union.
Sapu yesterday said it had launched investigations into the allegations that the SAPS recruited external staff to fill in while call centre operators are on a protected strike.
Sapu Gauteng deputy chairman Peter Ntsime said the SAPS was undermining salary negotiations: "We are told that flying squad members are now operating calls. Those people are not trained to operate calls and dispatch information.''
Police spokesman Sally de Beer said the SAPS was "not prepared to divulge operational details on deployments''.
"We made it clear that we would deploy operational members. Suffice to say, we deployed in such a manner that emergency calls could be responded to without compromising on community safety.''
Call centre operators are demanding Police Minister Fikile Mbalula upgrade their job level to match a benchmark salary for all government call centre operators.
A call centre agent who wished to remain anonymous said that they had been fighting over the salary increase issue for a while.
Sapu president Mpho Nkwinika said the strike would continue until the SAPS started talking about an increase in earnest.
