Cele deals with cop gripes to media
29 January 2010, 15:00
National police commissioner Bheki Cele has set up a committee to deal with complaints about the South African Police Service that are made via the letters pages of newspapers.
Police spokesman Director Selby Bokaba said that Cele had noted "with concern" the number of letters in newspapers complaining about "poor service delivery" by the police.
Bokaba said Cele had asked that a committee, consisting of communication officials from the police force, be set up to respond to individual letters "with a view to addressing those complaints".
"We guarantee that this exercise will not result in a witch-hunt of any sort, but we want to ensure that police officials behave professionally, ethically and treat the public with respect," Bokaba said.
He said only those letter writers who gave permission to newspaper editors to have their details released to the police would be contacted.
"The idea is not to harass or to victimise (the letter writers), but to assist them in expediting the resolution of the many problems faced by (them) regarding poor service delivery, or lack thereof, in some instances, in the organisation."
Bokaba said the police would also use the letters pages of newspapers to report back about progress being made.
Police spokesman Director Selby Bokaba said that Cele had noted "with concern" the number of letters in newspapers complaining about "poor service delivery" by the police.
Bokaba said Cele had asked that a committee, consisting of communication officials from the police force, be set up to respond to individual letters "with a view to addressing those complaints".
"We guarantee that this exercise will not result in a witch-hunt of any sort, but we want to ensure that police officials behave professionally, ethically and treat the public with respect," Bokaba said.
He said only those letter writers who gave permission to newspaper editors to have their details released to the police would be contacted.
"The idea is not to harass or to victimise (the letter writers), but to assist them in expediting the resolution of the many problems faced by (them) regarding poor service delivery, or lack thereof, in some instances, in the organisation."
Bokaba said the police would also use the letters pages of newspapers to report back about progress being made.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Cape Argus on January 29, 2010
