A total of 1926 police constables attended and participated in a passing out ceremony held at the Vygieskraal Stadium in Athlone, Western Cape yesterday.
They will be followed by another 1715 recruits that will complete their training and ‘pass out’ in Pretoria today, bringing the total number to 3641.
In a concerted effort by SAPS to improve police visibility and response time when attending to complaints, 1324 constables will be placed in the Western Cape enabling SAPs to address the current policing challenges in that province.
The rest, 2317, will be deployed at police stations throughout the country. These recruits have completed their field training at police stations countrywide. They will be followed by another reinforcement of a group of other students in December 2016.
In bolstering the “Back to Basics” approach, experienced senior police officers from national and provincial level have been placed strategically at cluster and station levels where they will utilise their leadership skills and operational expertise in the interest of the SAPS and the communities they serve.
SAPS will also capacitate the organisation with members that will be re-enlisted shortly, whilst training and development of members within the organisation has always continued in order to ensure that the organisation deploys members on the streets who are adequately resourced, experienced and ready to serve the communities in which they will operate.
The SAPS management reviewed the previous training curriculum after conducting impact studies and benchmarking with regional and international standards. The new specialised curriculum for basic training includes continuous practical and workplace exposure with a focus on various aspects of policing. The SAPS believes that this move will go a long way in entrenching the “Back to Basics” approach.
The SAPS is confident that its new members are well trained, ready to serve and protect all in South Africa the moment they leave the police academies. The policing skills imparted to them by seasoned trainers are essential as police station based officers are the community’s first line of defence and often the first to arrive at crime scenes.
The newly qualified members have, among others, received training in basic public order policing, preservation of a crime scene, statement taking and general interviewing skills as part of preliminary investigation towards solving crime. Moreover, the members have been trained in the electoral act and are ready to police during the upcoming elections