Cowboy cops need reining in

IT seems the litany of ill-discipline and cowboy-style behaviour by some police officers within the ranks of Toti police station apparently knows no bounds.
Just one incident in which the police uniform is used for strong-arm tactics, is one too many.
This newspaper reported in the middle of last year, about the actions of several policemen, in full uniform, who stormed a Southgate Business Park workshop in marked police vehicles and a tow truck, to forcibly remove a vehicle belonging to a Toti policeman. The vehicle was taken from the shop floor, allegedly without the bill for the repairs being settled. The official reaction to the incident was slow until a media spotlight was cast onto it.
However, that incident seems to have been glanced over to some degree, what with a R350 fine apparently being paid by each member to the police. They are back on duty.
The DA’s shadow minister of police, Dianne Kohler-Barnard cites a concerning statistic – in that more than 20 senior members have resigned from the station within the past 18 months. She has correctly called for an inquest into the reason for this mass exodus.
When the police themselves are guilty of disrespecting their uniform, by using it for their own benefit, there can be little hope that society at large will continue to hold the men and women who wear it in high regard. Police management needs to take matters in hand urgently and address the rot, as well as the root causes of the rot, to restore pride in Toti’s men in blue.