Dear Editor,
In the past, for a career either in the South African Police Service and Metro Police, the qualification for both (to my knowledge) used to be strict and required a certain amount of aptitude.
Police stations used to be manned properly; help was always a phone call away and if you had to visit a police station you were always greeted and helped.
Metro Police officers were difficult and sometimes arrogant but never were they rude to you and while I know we used to makes jokes about "speed cops", you always felt safe if stopped by one.
Today however it seems the only qualification required is a bad attitude and the worse your attitude is, the easier it is to become a police officer or metro cop.
Go to any of the police stations around and see for yourself; they are never helpful, each one's attitude seems worse than the other and it seems to be a competition to see if one can outdo the other. Service delivery is so shocking that most times cases are not even reported.
Now after completing their training at the "attitude adjustment centre" where they are taught by the worst of the worst, they are given a firearm and sent into the street to help us by protecting us. Yet them seem to walk around as if they are deemed untouchable, with the attitude that they can point a service pistol at anyone, fire at innocent people and families with assault rifles without fire warning shots.
"It was an accident" will be an excuse when a family is being wiped out, lying in hospital, fighting for their lives, and the Minister cannot be held responsible because these guys were trained to do what they do, with an attitude.
They have learned from the best. As Charles said: "Stop complaining, if you do not like it, pack your bags and leave".
Martin van der Merwe
____________________
Dear Editor,
The only way to deal with Crime in Africa is to shoot to kill. The criminals in the continent don't play at crime - they shoot to kill.
Police officers and citizens of the continent should be given the right to protect themselves.
South Africa is particularly weak in dealing with crime; in fact we are probably the weakest in the entire continent. Robbers shoot and kill citizens including police offers and get away.
Police recently short and wounded an innocent couple in Alberton while they were being short at by robbers and during that chaotic incident the robbers still managed to escape on foot - what a joke!
Senior police official Frans Bothma was shot and killed in the midst of colleagues and the robbers got away yet again. We did not hear of a chase or anything of that sort after Frans Bothma was shot.
The police are equipped with copters, motor cycles and very fast cars; meaning that they should be able to chase and hunt these killers in any terrain or landscape, but they always come out second best. Is this lack of training or what? Who trains the killers one might ask - your guess is as good as mine.
In other parts of Africa you will see the real meaning of vigilant policing. Police officers work the streets with R5s and AK 47s and should a shootout erupt between the police and would-be robbers, the robbers always loose!
No one out guns the police in other parts of Africa. All I'm trying to say is that I fully support the shoot to kill policy; it is the only way!
Innocent civilians will probably be affected by the shoot to kill policy, but in a war situation innocent people always die; it's a given.
We are at war and the only way to survive, is to return fire!
Johannes Mathole,
Centurion
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