THE Department of Safety and Security appears to be defying a High Court order to reinstate more than 2000 mostly former homeland police officers who were demoted after the Judge White Commission was established in 1997. The Judge White Commission was appointed by President Nelson Mandela in 1997 to look into irregular appointments made in the police force just before 1994 general election. Judge White recommended that certain officers repay the money they received after they were irregularly appointed but stressed that they should not be demoted. The department has ignored the ruling, however, and demoted 21 officers entirely. The officers took the department to the Pretoria High Court on November 28 last year and won the case. The court ordered the department to adhere to the recommendations of the Judge, but to date, it has not done so.