The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has condemned the killing of a police officer who was gunned down on Monday in Ekangala‚ Tshwane.
“We have on numerous occasions raised a grave concern on the fact that the SAPS’s human and physical resource allocation has been‚ and continues to be‚ a deep-seated challenge with adverse effects to both police officers and the community at large‚” Popcru said in a statement.
The union said the officer was killed after responding to a false complaint.
“This happens just a few weeks after two police officers in the same area‚ a husband and wife‚ were petrol-bombed in their home at night‚ leading to the death of the female officer‚ while the male officer‚ who is a detective‚ survived‚” Popcru said.
“South Africa has just below 200‚000 police officers who are expected to keep a population of 57-million safe on a regular basis‚ while a huge chunk of this police complement is based at national and provincial offices with lesser capacity at stations.”
“Our members are continuously terrorised and killed by cold-blooded criminals due to the longstanding impasse of inadequate human and physical resources as they work under unsafe and understaffed conditions‚ with the majority of police stations lacking basic equipment.”
The union said it would embark on a national march next month focusing on the broad challenges within the Justice‚ Crime Prevention and Security Cluster.
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