Cape Town - They are being groomed to protect and serve, but police trainees say they are treated like animals or criminals by superiors .
The Cape Argus has obtained shocking video footage of police recruits digging for food through black refuse bins at the police’s Bishop Lavis Training College. The footage shows women and a man in police-issue tracksuits, standing around a black bin, scavenging through waste.
IOL has chosen not to show the video as the trainees can be identified.
Trainees also say their living quarters were sprayed with pepper spray or teargas.
Standing rules are that cadets may not bring perishable food back to the college after a weekend break, and trainees say they were forced to dump takeaway meals and home-cooked goodies they had brought with them.
And a police trainer asked why police management were surprised when police behaved brutally, when at training level students were “degraded, demoralised and stripped of their dignity, all in the name of discipline”.
The video has landed in the lap of police union Popcru, which is furious at the “inhumane and degrading” incident.
National police spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said they were not aware of the allegations but would “certainly conduct a full investigation”.
“Academy orders are that police trainees are not allowed to bring in any perishable food to the academy after weekend leave as it is not stored properly and will contribute to unhygienic conditions.”
Popcru’s provincial chairman Francisco Fields said they were disturbed by reports from shop stewards of incidents of victimisation and intimidation at the college.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police trainer painted a grim picture of police colleges in the province, citing an “onslaught on the morale of students”.
“I don’t need to pretend because I know this situation is not right. We can’t train these students to serve and protect when we are breaking them down. The brutality we find outside in the force is a product of what is happening here.”
He was also concerned that some of the instructors had never been police officers themselves, and did not understand the workings of the police.
“Some of them are teaching about firearms but they themselves have failed the tests. If you are a firearm instructor and you can’t shoot, what is the product you will be putting out there on the streets?”
Both female and male trainees at the Bishop Lavis Police College handed over a pile of affidavits to Popcru in the past week, detailing their fear of intimidation, victimisation and inhumane punishments.
The trainees highlighted an incident on November 24 when their dormitories were sprayed with pepper spray or teargas, which led to a coughing and vomiting frenzy among female trainees. Six days later, on November 30, came the rubbish bin saga.
The students claim they were forced to dig out their food from the bins being after ordered by instructors to dump it, despite no meals being provided by the college that night.
“We came back from weekend pass and our bags were searched… they told us that we can’t go in with food. Some ate their food, while others had it taken and thrown away.”
Another trainee said: “In this college I feel like a slave. Most of the days I don’t feel like being here but I’m not here for people, I want to make something out of my life… we are human beings with feelings and emotions, we are not animals or criminals.”
Another affidavit said: “We are experiencing a lot of problems on the campus due to certain trainers who are misusing their powers.”
A female trainee, along with at least 20 others, said that on November 24 they were summoned at 10pm to the parade ground by an instructor to be “motivated”, which students claim is college-speak for punishment. They had to stay outside until midnight only to find when they returned to their dormitories that the rooms had been sprayed with either pepper spray or teargas, making it impossible for the students to sleep there.
The trainee said: “There was a smell of pepper spray or teargas. We were coughing… could not breathe. It was on the floor and on our blankets. Two of the girls could not breathe and one was taken to hospital. It was chaotic - others were vomiting and some had burning eyes.”
Another said: “We tried to open windows as one of us got a panic attack while others were coughing and vomiting.”
After reporting the bin incident, they say they were put through pre-dawn physical training, on one occasion being ordered to wear rain suits on a scorching day.
One student said they were bullied and told nearly every day by an instructor that “he likes sending people home and he won’t hesitate sending anyone home”.
“We are very afraid to complain to the commander, because he tells the instructors and then the trainees get punished.”
Mentioning the names of those who frighten her, one trainee said: “I’m personally very afraid… but I felt confident enough to put it on paper.”
Others complained about having to buy cleaning products for the college from their monthly stipend, and if they failed to clean their quarters they got “motivation”, which included leopard-crawling, push-ups or rolling in the sand, grass or tar.
Fields said that even if nobody had forced the trainees to eat from the bins, the situation was shocking. “It is inhumane, these students are being ill-treated, harassed and victimised…”
He said they were demanding an investigation and immediate action against those responsible.
Cape Argus