This was according to a police chaplain and member of the social and pastoral services unit in the Alexandra police cluster. The cluster includes Bramley, Sandton, Midrand and Gallo Manor police stations.
Explaining the police’s need for social support, Captain Rev. Chaka Motanyane said policemen and women are there to protect, care for and serve society irrespective class, race or gender. “In the course of their duty, there will be rotten apples like in any other profession, who should not be taken as representative of the entire police services.”
Motanyane said because of the bad elements, society was quick to vilify the police at the slightest opportunity.
This, he said, was also caused by a lack of knowledge of the challenges faced by the police when enforcing law and order.
“In most cases they attend to situations that threaten their own lives but their training equips them with skills to deal with all situations in a civil manner. Unfortunately as humans, they also build up stress which needs to be addressed.”
Motanyane, a Roman Catholic priest for 16 years, is a trained officer and has been at the Alexandra Police Station for four years, providing officers spiritual support at parades or on an individual basis.
He said fighting crime, arresting criminals and attending to scenes of crimes are stressful experiences which require spiritual and other counselling support.
“It is important to provide counselling to help contain their emotional pain from their experiences and also the uncertainty of their own safety while on duty.”
He said sometimes police officers looked happy on the outside yet they were struggling to cope in a dangerous work environment.
Motanyane added that the police were also discouraged by the lack of appreciation of their work by society. He urged residents, especially in Alexandra, to motivate the police through praise for their positive achievements, and to engage with them more regularly through the police forum in order to diffuse tensions.
Motanyane encouraged churches to also pray for the officers, and women’s and youth organisations to regard policemen and women as allies.
