Metro police speak out about officers’ alleged ‘brutality’
'Our image is grossly tarnished by motorists who know very well that almost anything negative reported involving the metro police will be easily believed'
THE metro police’s image is grossly tarnished by motorists who know very well that almost anything negative reported involving the EMPD will be easily believed.
These are the words of Chief Supt Wilfred Kgasago, Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department spokesman, following two reports in Kempton Express in recent weeks regarding allegedly metro police brutality.
“As a law enforcement agency we have to investigate any allegations levelled against our officers by way of getting three sides of the incident. The procedure we follow is to interview both the complainant and the officer/s who are accused, as well as independent witnesses before our Integrity and Standards Unit can check the merits of both parties’ claims,” he said.
“It is crucial for us as an organisation to establish the facts around the incident before we can furnish a complete and comprehensive response. It is unfortunate that during the course of our investigations – after responding to the media that investigations are underway, the media on the other hand is at liberty to splash untested allegations from complainants, which invariably place the EMPD in a very bad light in the eyes of the public.
“Our image is grossly tarnished by motorists who know very well that almost anything negative reported involving the metro police will be easily believed by their credulous target publics and cemented by the manner in which the media publicises the incident.
“Another unfortunate part is that by the time we respond after ascertaining the facts surrounding the incident, our image is already tarnished, the public’s thinking is swayed to the detriment of our image and worse still, the media never give our response the same degree of conspicuity it gave when initially reporting the matter,” Kgasago said.
“This kind of behaviour by some motorists is perpetuated because they know that the media will subtly take sides by the manner in which the story is told. The motorists will fabricate stories and throw any far-fetched aspect into the fray to strengthen their contemptible cases.”
Kgasago also supplied details regarding the two incidents reported on by Kempton Express.
Motorist allegedly brutally beaten up by metro police: 9 July
The facts are as follows:
By his own admission, the complainant stated he was under the influence of liquor at 11pm on July 26. His reading on the alcometer was 0.143 gram concentration of alcohol per 100 millilitres (legal limit is 0.05 gram per 100 millilitres). After being informed he was under arrest he resisted and threw tantrums, claiming he was just a stone’s throw from his residence, thus it was “unnecessary” for him to be arrested.
The man bit, hit and kicked our officers (photos are attached) and even damaged the interior of the police van by kicking the portable blue light as well as the interior panels.
He was very economic with the truth in that he failed to mention that SAPS members came to assist the metro police in order to subdue him in his aggressive and violent rants. He also failed to mention that the injuries he sustained were self-inflicted as he, on three occasions at our offices in Tembisa, tried to scale a fence in an effort to escape from police custody.
The EMPD gathered information from the SAPS members as well as from the security officer stationed at the Tembisa office where the blood was to be drawn from the suspect.
It is important to state that the metro police officers who sustained injuries inflicted by the complainant on that night had to be laid off for a week from duty as a result. A civil case has been opened against the complainant.
In this incident, the facts are:
The woman driver was clocked at 114km/h in an 80km/h zone. Procedure necessitates that the officer shows the driver (offender) the reading on the laser speed machine.
At first the driver refused but subsequently agreed. On being informed that she was under arrest, she started her rants by saying there was no law that provided for a driver to be arrested for speeding and stated the laser machine was wrong.
The female passenger, who was on her cellphone, shouted at the officers saying she was a lawyer-in-the-making and her father was an advocate. She further stated that her advocate father told her to leave and not allow the metro police to arrest them.
The passenger actually dragged the driver from the metro police to the vehicle, saying her father (advocate) said they must leave. They drove off. Metro police had to give chase with the driver dangerously playing chicken on the busy Great North Road until she was cornered one kilometre away at the intersection with Highveld Road.
Unbelievably, the two “ladies” started spitting profanities and racial slurs, stating they would not be arrested by black officers. As for the pointing and cocking of a firearm and assault as well as the claim of being called “white bitches”, it was just a dirty ploy to make their case look weighty in the eyes of the public.
At the police station (Kempton Park) the matter was aggravated by the unbecoming conduct of a person who claimed to be the mother of one of the arrested women. She was spitting venom, pushing and poking metro police officers who were at the police station – some of whom were not even from the speed section.
Under normal circumstances, cases of this nature will take officers 30 minutes maximum to complete the docket. In this case, our officers were stuck at the police station from 11am up to 2.50pm. Some of the delays were due to in-house issues which the metro police have escalated to higher authorities to tackle.
It is an abominable fallacy to believe that when a case has been thrown out it means the metro police were in the wrong – far from the truth! Furthermore, this does not absolve the suspects from their blatant wrongdoings. Those who earnestly wish to know answers as to why the cases were thrown out should direct their questions to certain stages of the justice system – not the metro police.
Those who adopt this kind of an attitude and stance when they know they are in the wrong, will be ultimately exposed of their dishonesty and will suffer the consequences. Motorists are advised to report any unbecoming behaviour committed by our officers to help us in rooting out undesirable elements in our profession.
The earnest plea by the EMPD is that the public must respect our men and women who are committed and dedicated in making an effort to create a safer environment for all. We urge motorists to report any unprofessional conduct on the part of our officers. We also wish to see motorists and officers respecting each other on our public roads.
