National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola: Media briefing on human resources related priorities

Capacitation and filling of vacant posts

We have been hard at work in ensuring that we increase our footprint and bring services closers to the communities that we serve. In the last five years, we have managed to build 31 police stations across the country. These include, Bolobedu police station in Limpopo, Qhasa police station in the Eastern Cape and the Tafelsig police station in the Western Cape, just to mention but a few.

In terms of capacitation, through project 10 000 we have been able to increase our numbers on the ground. In the past three years, we have added 30 393 more boots on the ground.

These newly trained police officers have been deployed to various police stations and units including our detectives to put perpetrators behind bars and to enhance our detective performance; our public order police (POP) unit to enhance our crowd management capacity and capabilities; and our Forensic Science Laboratories to increase the processing of forensic evidence that will ultimately assist to convict perpetrators of crime.

Detectives

I am more than pleased to report that in this financial year, more than 4000 new police officers will be joining the detective environment. The bulk of detectives are being recruited from the newly trained Constable’s that are currently receiving their workplace exposure at various stations across the country and upon completion of their probation period, they will be deployed to grass roots level of policing where crime is reported.

Additional detectives will also be deployed to the top 30 high contact crime police stations - these are stations that are experiencing high levels of contact crimes such as murder, attempted murder, rape, GBVF and assault cases.

These police stations are in the top 4 heavy crime weight provinces inclusive of Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, Western Cape and the Eastern Cape.

We are also still embarking on the re-enlistment of former police officers that left the service in good standing, and we will also be embarking on the recruitment of detectives on contract basis, these include retired seasoned detectives and those that resigned in good standing. More than 785 detectives will also be added to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) to boost their national priority offences, serious organised crime, and serious corruption investigations.

We have also listened to the outcry, that more needs to be done to keep our hardworking detectives happy in a bid to retain them.
We have thus taken a decision to introduce the detective investigator scarce skills allowance as an extra incentive. This extra incentive is over and above the increase of the service allowance that our operational members are currently receiving.

Crime intelligence

In the crime intelligence environment, 300 more operatives are currently undergoing the necessary training and upon conclusion of their work exposure training, they will be deployed to the various provinces to enhance our intelligence capacity.

Forensic science laboratory

An additional 675 Forensic Science Laboratory analysts and crime scene experts are also still busy with their workplace training at the station level. At the end of this period, they will also be deployed to our Local Criminal Record Centres (LCRC) to boost our crime scene management expertise with the aim of expediting evidence collected at crime scenes. Others will also be deployed to capacitate our Four Forensic Labs.

Public order police unit

We have also trained and deployed 5000 public order police members in the last two years to enhance and capacitate our crowd control management capabilities across the country. This capacity is indeed bearing fruit, as members are able to contain and manage protests effectively and efficiently.

10111 call centres

From the newly trained police officers, 575 call centre operators have been trained and deployed to serve as call takers at our 10111 call centres across the country. This has greatly assisted the service to ensure a much more rapid response to crime related emergencies.

Station commanders

To ensure increased productivity and service delivery at station level, we have filled 150 station commanders’ positions at various police stations. These include stations in the four provinces that experience high crime levels such as Gauteng, Western and Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal.

We have also introduced a mandatory station commanders induction course over and above the station management learning program for all newly appointed station commanders, such course assists in enhancing the much-needed skills and knowledge required to run a police station.

Scarce skills allowance for high-risk units

As a way of retaining skills and talent within our high-risk environments, we are today introducing a scarce skills allowance for the National Intervention Unit (NIU). The NIU is a unit within the SAPS that responds to mainly high-risk incidents such cash- in-transit armed robberies and ATM bombings.

Later on, this morning, we will be conferring the operators badge to 35 qualifying NIU members that have undergone the necessary training to serve in this elite unit.
We are also pleased to announce that we will be increasing the scarce skills allowance for the Counter Assault Team (CAT). CAT members also respond to high-risk operations and situations.

Last year, the management of SAPS aligned the ranks of the Special Task Force (STF) unit to entry level of Warrant Officer rank and also increased their scarce skills allowance as a retention strategy.

These changes within the high-risk units are crucial in ensuring that we retain the specialised skill within the service.

Scarce skills for other environments

Amongst other environments that will receive a scarce skills allowance include the following:

• Hostage negotiators

• SAPS divers

• Airborne Law Enforcement Officers – these are officers that work in our Airwing unit and deployed to assist ground units during operations

• Coastal skippers

• Vessel handlers – they are responsible for conducting inspections on vessels that come into the country at all our seaports

Grade progression

From 2018 to 2023, more than 57 000 police officers have progressed to higher ranks. These include:
From Constable to Sergeant: 35 639 were promoted
From Sergeant to Warrant Officer: 6 107 were promoted
Warrant Officer Band 1 to Warrant Officer B2: 15 405 were promoted

For this financial year, we are considering progressing 10 000 Constable’s and Sergeants that are more than 11 years in their current rank. An additional 1000 Warrant Officers will also be considered to be progressed to a higher salary band.

Public service act members and post promotions

I am also pleased to announce that more than 2000 Public Service Act employees were promoted to higher levels since 2018 and for this financial year, more than 3 149 critical vacant posts on supervisory level in the operational and support environments, including PSA members will be advertised and filled.

About 80 public service act employees that are attached to the K9 and Mounted unit services who are breeding and training animals will also be translated to Police Service Act.

Resources

We currently have a fleet of more than 43 000 vehicles in all nine provinces. Budget has been set aside to procure more vehicles for provinces with a focus on the operational environments.

First priority will go to police stations and units to enhance police visibility and police response.

We are also focusing on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our garages to improve and enhance the turnaround time of repairs and servicing of our vehicles. We are also employing more artisans and mechanics at these garages.

We will continue to enforce the law without fear and favour.

I thank you.