Joburg trains metro cops to do kung fu

Criminals in Johannesburg beware: the city’s metro police department (JMPD) officers are geared up to deliver some hard-hitting justice.

A group of officers traded in their weapons for close-quarter combat training, sponsored by the Chinese government, and are ready to unleash those new skills.

A delegation from the Fujian police college in China was sent to the city to teach 28 metro police officers how to train other officers in close-quarter combat.

The delegation included officials from the international co-operation bureau of China’s ministry of public security, professors and lecturers of police tactics, and special weapons and tactics instructors.

Johannesburg municipal committee member for public safety Michael Sun said usually “police officers have to undergo training that comes in two parts, traffic policing and metro policing”.

“There is very little training on street policing, which is really part of their job.”

Close-quarter combat training focused on teaching officers how to protect themselves with their bare hands instead of using weap-ons. In videos, the officers can be seen learning how to disarm and immobilise an attacker.

“We are trying to upskill officers as much as we can with as many skills and training as possible,” Sun said.

The department planned on expanding on the training. Those officers who attended the two-week programme that ended last week will now train other officers.

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