The City of Johannesburg is introducing a new shift system in which metro police will work for four days in and have four days off.
MMC for Public Safety, Michael Sun says metro officers who are overworked are less able to conduct successful operations.
“Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) has three-thousand- seven hundred operational officers, including one-thousand-five hundred trainees. The new system will see equal amounts of officers working at night and during the day, with a large reserve on standby.”
Sun says on the previous shift system, some operational staff worked for up to 16 days without rest.
Sun says the initiative has received support, “We’ve always had a lot of issues and complaints from our JMPD officers that they’re not getting sufficient rest and some of the problems have also extended to their family lives.”
Sun says the new shift system is a milestone for the city.
“We thought it was critical and very important that we work on this issue. So this is truly a milestone for the city. It’s something that looks after the well being of our employees and I certainly want our JMPD officers to be well rested and revitalised to face the safety challenges of the city on a daily basis.”
