Reassign trained officers to active crime-fighting roles

IT IS NO secret that South Africa’s crime statistics remain alarmingly high. But despite the government’s recent efforts to appoint more police officers, the situation is unlikely to change without the deep structural issues within the police service itself being addressed.

Every member of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) plays an indispensable role in policing, but the allocation of 36 000 trained police officers to administrative tasks specifically represents a severe misallocation of resources.

Yet upon promotion to senior ranks, seasoned officers are