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COPS SHOULD PROTECT NOT ABUSE

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Sir,


The seemingly unabated alleged police brutality reports carried by our media in the country is worrying.  A recent case is that of the Pigg’s Peak woman who was allegedly brutalised by police officers from Pigg’s Peak Police Station last week. 


Based on the aforesaid report, may I kindly share with readers the below article on a police brutality incident which took place last year in South Africa and how police brutality in our neighbours politics is taken seriously.

(Story sourced from News24), quote:
IPID probes case of police brutality after woman’s arrest
18:08 20/11/2018 by Alex Mitchley:
“The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is investigating a case of police brutality after a Pretoria West woman was pulled by her hair and violently shoved into a police van.


In a video of the incident which occurred two weeks ago, two female police officers can be seen arresting a woman. While one of the officers struggles to open the police vehicle’s door, the other restrains the woman by grabbing her ponytail. Once the door is opened, the woman is pushed into the van. IPID spokesperson Moses Dlamini confirmed the incident and said that a case of police brutality was being investigated.

Dlamini said the reason for the woman’s arrest was also a subject of investigation. “It is important for the police to uphold the human rights of the communities they operate within and not use unnecessary force where it is unwarranted,” said Dlamini in a statement. “Police officers should be protectors of the community and not its abusers.”

Many commentators before me have condemned unreservedly, security forces alleged brutality in our kingdom, but seemingly nothing is being done to curb this prevalent and unfortunate practice. This has resulted in some of the country’s citizenry fearing the police and instead of viewing them as our protectors, the opposite has become true.

investigation


Logic dictates that it is only those who are on the wrong side of the law who should dread law enforcement officers, but I tell you, even those having nothing to hide, have their skin crawling at the mere sight of the police. Not very nice, don’t you think?
Past and present police spokespersons have also not done and are not doing the image of the police any good at all with their questionable and suspiciously biased response at times, where their own colleagues are fingered to be on the wrong.

In some instances, they appear to protect their own, making fierce denials in superficial attempts to take away the obvious guilt away from their colleagues. I have said it in the past that the ‘good’ image of the police is being incessantly tainted by those officers who, I believe, are rogue elements in the police service, who are law unto themselves.

In the article above, I was particularly impressed by the impartial response from the IPID spokesperson, who displayed mature response, not the blatantly subservient, sheer display of arrogance and obviously biased response normally associated with our security forces as well as government spokespersons.
I have written in the past that I sincerely believe that not all police officers are prone to brutality, but as the saying goes ‘one rotten apple spoils the whole tree’.

Alex Nxumalo 76058449

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