The Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) in Gauteng says continuous checks led it to the discovery that 167 officers had criminal records. There are currently over 3400 officers in the Metro and after the 2022 audit, 250 officers were found to have committed crime.
Of these, 167 officers had criminal records while 83 were awaiting trial.
EMPD spokesperson, Kelebogile Thipa says audits are crucial.
“The recruitment and selection process of the city, it is the competency of the human resource (HR) department as such, they would do the vetting within the recruitment process. Within the EMPD it should be that we do regular checks and conduct these verifications just to make sure that we are remaining compliant with regards to the law. We are proud to say we have conducted the verification right through and that’s why we have discovered the unfortunate.”
With regards to the suspension of the officers Thipa says HR disciplinary processes are unfolding.
“After employment you get that people get up to mischievous behaviour and get those criminal records. They have a duty as employees to further disclose to the employer upon acquiring those criminal records. The reproductions are that HR will do a disciplinary action. We are talking from driving while under the influence, reckless and negligent driving, theft being the top three. Crime of murder and assault and what not.”
