Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi has urged 1 789 new police graduates to defend themselves in any way possible against police killers.
”There are elements that want to kill members of the police force, so I urge you to defend yourselves with whatever means [are] at your disposal,” he told them as they finished their basic training in Pretoria on Friday.
Encouraging them to stand at the forefront of the fight against crime, he cautioned that the road ahead was long and hard.
Selebi also warned the graduates against temptations that they would meet along the way.
”Things opposed to what you were taught will come your way to corrupt and make you do wrong things, but I believe you have the capacity to resist them,” he said.
Assistance would be given to the graduates to fulfil their dreams of serving the people of the country, Selebi said.
”We will always be on your side, when you give a 100%, we’ll give you a 120% to make sure we’re in a position to deliver and improve the lives of our people.”
Of the 1 789 graduates in Pretoria, 550 were women.
In the past two days, 3 419 recruits have completed the police training programme. They include 258 trainees from Oudtshoorn, 461 from Philippi, 143 from Chatsworth and 768 from Bisho.
A major restructuring will see more re-deployment of policing personnel and skills from head office and provincial level at station level ”where they are needed most” in a bid to reduce violent crime, Selebi said. — Sapa