Training, training and more training is what is needed to prevent the further deaths of Joburg metro police department officers.
These were the words of chief David Tembe when addressing the media at the JMPD headquarters in Martindale on Monday about the deaths of four on-duty officers in the past month.
Tembe said there were currently no retraining courses offered by the JMPD, and this was one of his priorities. He would ensure there would be refresher courses at least every three years.
Another instruction he has given is that no officer should patrol alone, day or night.
In the case of motorbike policing, there will, in future, have to be at least four bikes riding together and at least two officers in patrol cars and four street patrollers at night.
Also, he said a task team had been set up consisting of JMPD members who are working undercover together with the SA Police Service, the city's group forensic unit and other law enforcement agencies to “arrest the perpetrators of these heinous crimes”.
Member of the public should also change their mentality towards Joburg police officers.
“It is always members of the public and motorists who gang up against the metro police when they are doing their jobs. Wearing a uniform does not protect our officers. We are governed by rules whereas criminals are not,” he said.
He vowed that proportional force would be deployed in future. “We will not break the law or use undue force, but we will swamp and flush out criminals in the same numbers as they attack us,” he added.
The department would also be running campaigns in schools and shopping centres to educate the public about the importance of the role of the JMPD as well as the need to show respect to JMPD officers.
“People see us as traffic cops. They do not realise that we do policing and by-law enforcement to keep them safe.”
He said the much-publicised deaths "of four of our officers in just over a month is just the tip of the iceberg”.
Many officers get attacked on a monthly basis but these incidents were not reported, he said.
Earlier this month, two officers - Winnie Mokholo and Sophie Ngoasheng - died at a roadblock on Witkoppen Road in Paulshof Sandton, when a motorist ploughed into them, killing them instantly and hospitalising another two officers.
The suspect, Albert Pretorius 41 from Paulshof, was denied bail.
He will appear in the Alexandra Magistrate's Court on March 29.
Off-duty officer Alfred Malomo was killed at the weekend when, as a member of a community police forum, he went in search of armed men who had allegedly robbed a shopowner of a tablet computer in Ivory Park.
Officer David Ratshikhopha was shot and killed on February 15 in Booysens when he tried to assist a taxi driver who was being hijacked.
“Besides the tragedy for the JMPD and their families as parents and breadwinners, we have lost years of experience in public safety,” added Tembe.
Since 2001, a total of 45 JMPD officers have been killed while on duty.