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Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) is trying to address the shortage of staff members within the department, Benoni City Times reports.
This is according to EMPD spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago, who confirmed that eight critical senior vacancies were being advertised and 265 metro police recruits were in training.
READ MORE: DA claims about EMPD are ‘suspect’, says metro police
Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Jaco Terblanche recently highlighted the underfunding and understaffing of the EMPD, saying only 1 699 trained EMPD officials were available to protect the residents of Ekurhuleni.
“Only 895 of the 2 594 EMPD officials are traffic wardens,” said Terblanche.
“Traffic wardens are not trained EMPD officers, and they, therefore, cannot carry out certain duties or carry firearms.
“In 2016, the population of Ekurhuleni was 3 379 104 – which means that there is only one trained EMPD officer per 1 988 residents for protection,” said Terblanche.
“It is evident that the EMPD is terribly understaffed, and there is absolutely no political will from the ANC-led coalition to employ more officers,” he added.
Kgasago said the department endeavoured, timeously and proactively, to motivate the metro to fill vacant positions.
“In all organisations, employees resign, die or retire, and they can’t magically be replaced overnight,” said Kgasago.
“The department is in the process of motivating for additional metro police positions, given the growing number of cars and pedestrians, in an effort to address the officer-to-population ratio when compared to the neighbouring metros.”
He provided this brief background and “educative advice in the context of the unsubtle accusations levelled by the DA”:
• The EMPD is part of Gauteng and the metros in the province.
• The SAPS has more than 30 000 members deployed in Gauteng. Two of the large SAPS areas form part of Ekurhuleni, namely the North Rand and East Rand regions.
• The core functions of the EMPD is traffic policing, bylaw enforcement and crime prevention. Erstwhile traffic departments’ mandates expanded with the advent of the metropolitan model.
• Due to the limited powers of the metro police, comparatively speaking, the metro police are effectively the force-multiplier to the SAPS with limited legislative prescripts.
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