SA gets 2 000 new police officers
Edwin Tshivhidzo
11 June 2004
About to 2 000 new police officers graduated on Friday at the Pretoria West Police College as part of government's plans to have 152 000 officers on active duty by 2006.
Of the total number of the graduates, 606 were from Bisho Police Training College, and 730 were from Oudtshoorn and Graaf Reinet. About 438 of the graduates are women.
The top 10 graduates were awarded academic achievement certificates for being the best students.
The newly graduated police officers will be deployed to the various police stations especially in crime-ridden areas to strengthen policing.
Addressing the officers, Divisional Commissioner Magda Stander appealed to the new recruits to always be on alert and wear their bulletproof vests at all times.
"Be professional, be neat and be smart," she said, urging them to use their competence to the benefit of all citizens.
She told them they were about to venture into real policing, one of the
foundations on which the country's democracy depended.
"We will never give in to the efforts of those who wish to tarnish our democracy," said Stander.
Source: BuaNews
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