National Police Commissioner, General Bheki Cele, has noted with concern that some of the suspects arrested at the weekend in connection with shopping mall robberies turned out to be police officers.
General Cele’s office would like to assure all South Africans that the SAPS is working very hard to get rid of criminal elements who hide behind their police badges to commit acts of crime.
Over the past weekend we have arrested five police officers for armed robberies in Gauteng. Some of them have, through initial investigations, been linked to recent heists in Gauteng. During the commission of one such incident a person was fatally wounded.
The suspects appeared in court on Monday, and have been remanded in custody for a bail application. Police investigations into the linkages continue.
Over a period of three months from September 2010, we have arrested 125 police officials in Gauteng alone for corruption and other cases in a concerted effort to rid the police service of those few rotten apples who give all police officials a bad name.
In addition to this clampdown, General Bheki Cele has also changed the recruitment procedures and the period it takes to train police officers. The aim is to make it harder for people who should not be in the force in the first place, to slip through the cracks.
General Cele says “We are angry and frustrated that some of the people allegedly involved in serious crimes such as business robberies might have come from within our ranks. It is totally unacceptable for police officers to be involved in any form of criminal activity. It is my duty, as well as that of my teams in all provinces to root out criminal elements within the SAPS.”
Media contacts:
Maj Genl Nonkululeko Mbatha
Cell: 083 645 6252
Brig Sally de Beer
Cell: 082 779 8658
National Media Centre, SAPS
Tel: 012 400 6585
Fax: 012 400 7018
E-mail: mediacentre@saps.org.za
Source: South African Police Services
