Thinking on their feet

2003-09-23 21:47

Christel Raubenheimer

Pretoria - The training course for the police's intervention unit is "physically and mentally challenging, but it creates stamina and teaches them to think clearly in dangerous situations", says inspector Andries Meyer, one of the training facilitators.

Although the unit is still in its infancy, members are already highly specialised.

New members are in training at Verdrag Bravo camp outside Thabazimbi and are learning to defuse medium- to high-risk situations.

The intervention unit will be used in situations such as farm attacks and cash-in-transit heists, where they will support other police units with their specialised training.

"Where the public are other police units' clients, the intervention unit services the rest of the police and the public," Meyer said.

The elite teams' new course was developed by training facilitators, who first had to complete the course themselves before they started training others.

The police's task team trained the facilitators and the two units are now co-operating during training and live operations.

Captain Dinesh Chetty, national co-ordinator of intervention training, said the training at Bravo camp was outcomes based in nature.

"The training is job centred. Members are placed at intervention units in Durban, Pretoria and Umtata after their training."

They form part of the operational reaction services, which include the police's task force, border police, air division and area crime prevention unit.

The 13 members of the original 25 that started the course, will complete the first section of their training on Friday.

- Beeld