Hard work: An officer manning a speed trap. Joburg chief Chris Ngcobo suggested introducing spot fines. Metro police officers who spend hours parked under bridges and trees, “talking and loafing” the day away, came under the spotlight in Parliament yesterday as MPs laid into them for accepting bribes and being lazy.

“When you see a metro police car under a bridge for an hour or two, does it mean they are off-duty or on-duty?” African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe asked during a briefing by metro police officials to the portfolio committee on police. “Because many times they spend hours under the bridges and trees…. And when they are there, how do they inform the public that they are at their service? Because that is not the picture that is created.”

Meshoe also questioned the wisdom of having roadblocks first thing in the morning as people tried to get to work. Committee chairwoman Sindi Chikunga was concerned about “loafing” metro police officers. “We understand the issue of visibility, but we are talking about people loitering for the whole day, sleeping in the car, talking. You can see those people are absorbed in whatever discussion. It has nothing to do with their work,” she said. “A day’s work for a day’s pay. That is our concern.”

Johannesburg metro police chief Chris Ngcobo defended his officers, explaining that they were often under bridges or hiding behind trees setting speed traps as they had been ordered to do. “When a marked police car is at a shopping centre, there is something wrong. It is an abuse,” he said. “But we request that we be given power to continue with our work. Sometimes members of Parliament and councillors see the cars, but they have no total picture of the decision we took as commanders. We have speed- section people who work under the trees. They sit there and hide the camera. That is their job.”

He said it was “very disappointing” that no one criticised the public for offering officers bribes. Ngcobo said Johannesburg’s metro police had some serious challenges, including insufficient money for training and equipment.

“We are requesting MPs to pump a lot of money into police training. We do not have some of the equipment we need. “In Johannesburg there are plenty of foreigners not on the fingerprint system. We collaborate with police, but it is very difficult to identify them.” He suggested introducing a “spot fine” as was done in countries like Zimbabwe and Botswana. “In SA , there are a lot of foreign-registered cars. “We don’t charge them for a disc. If you enter Botswana or Zimbabwe they make you have your own disc and you pay. This is something we need to discuss (with the Road Traffic Management Council).”

Source: www.businessday.co.za

Photo by: conner395