Being a police officer in SA isn’t easy – so let’s appreciate it when they bag some wins

Fans of the old MTV series Jackass would be familiar with the phrase, “if you’re gonna be dumb, you’ve gotta be tough.” It’s a phrase increasingly wielding authority in South Africa thanks to the cops. It’s been a national pastime to disparage the police, but lately there have been impressive performances from their quarters.

Police rescue US pastor

Now that abducted American pastor, Josh Sullivan, has been rescued at the cost of three criminals’ lives, one has to think, “Way to go, popo!”

It’s never great to hear about the loss of life but if somebody has to die between the cops, the hostage and the kidnappers in a shootout, there’s no question who I’m condemning. And if there has to be a shootout during a hostage rescue, there’s no question who’s being dumb either.

While so much in the country is worthy of criticism, it’s encouraging to see that the police have gone from a derivative ‘shoot to kill’ Bheki Cele joke to actually putting their munitions to the task of enforcing critical laws.

Although it’s easy to get excited about the bad guys catching bullets, it is not to be encouraged. What is to be encouraged is being excited that law enforcement has the means to find the bad guys, fight the bad guys and get the bad guys. Whether that means catching them or killing them must always remain determined by the actions of the bad guys.

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Cops risk their lives

Whatever happens out on the field, it must be difficult for law enforcement to go out ready for action. With families at home and careers ahead of them, each individual cop called to action has no reason to die, yet they risk that for us.

We hardly ever hear of the stories of how they risk their lives to catch criminals, who are released to reoffend, sometimes against those very cops. It cannot be an easy vocation. It’s certainly nowhere near as easy as mumbling “useless police” at the 8 o’clock news from the comfort of your living room.

We civilians will never know the issues faced by the police in their entirety. Maybe they’re understaffed, overworked or under-resourced. Police stations operate with the same water and electricity issues we have. Your one criminal matter is but a drop in the ocean relative to all the other files on the detective’s desk.

Being mad at the system is one thing, but don’t be mad at individual cops who do what they can with the little they have.

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Good work should be recognised

I can’t wait for the Ben Shapiro episode celebrating the rescue of Sullivan, but the celebration shouldn’t just be about that instance. It should be about the cops who found and arrested the several people who stormed and mugged a car in downtown Bloemfontein. It should be about the cops who did the legwork to find the guys who held up a rideshare driver and wished him a salam alaikum while being caught on dashcam. It should be about the wins that the police make at incredible risk to their own lives.

Criminals tend to be cowards. It’s why they work in large teams to overwhelm. They don’t tend to care about life which is evidenced by this latest shootout. Yet our buddies in blue go the distance and are rarely recognised.

It’s been encouraging to see such an increase in the number of stories of the cops winning. Now to take it to the next level. The police have done their work. The ball is in your court now, Shamila Batohi!

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