The newly appointed National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, has outlined his vision and priorities for the next five years in the position.
Masemola who was introduced by the Minister of Police, Gen Bheki Cele at a media briefing in Pretoria, on Friday, 1 April said, one of his main priorities is to build and strengthen community-police relations and subsequently change the prevailing negative public perception.
“I assume this ultimate top position and leadership role during a challenging time where public trust and confidence in the police are very low. Therefore, the immediate demand for my priority attention is on: the need to build and strengthen community-police relations and subsequently change the prevailing negative public perception.
“As well as the need to work on both the morale and the integrity of our members who ultimately have a constitutional duty to serve and to protect our communities,” Masemola said.
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According to Masemola, during his tenure, he would mainly focus his energies on a list of priorities which included issues of police safety, the DNA backlog at the South African Police Service (SAPS) Forensic Science Laboratories, as well as the Central Firearm Registry.
Masemola went on to say that the issue of the filling of critical vacancies in environments such as Crime Intelligence and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), would also enjoy priority attention.
“Top of the agenda will also be the advanced and refresher training of members as we embrace international policing standards. This is over and above the entry-level training such as the one that will commence soon for the 12 000 new recruits,” Masemola added.
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Picture: SAPS/Facebook
