August 2000 Volume 81 Number 8 "serving the protectors"
By Andy Dunn

Much-Needed Support

Clearly to the detriment of police officers in need, SAPOL’s 1998 decision to exclude the Police Association from its call-out list remains unchanged. The list contains the names of SAPOL branches - such as Internal Investigations - which are contacted in cases of “critical incidents”.

Shootings and fatal road accidents may constitute such incidents; and the police officers involved in them may, of course, be left traumatized - or even open to charges.

Naturally, the Police Association has maintained strong opposition to SAPOL’s decision; and in an interview with the Police Journal, I said there was “no question about the pettiness of it” (Police Management Says “No” to Inclusion on Call-Out List, December, 1998).

For the same article, former assistant commissioner, Jim Litster, spoke of simpler incident scenes through fewer on-scene support personnel. But PASA’s presence at these scenes is to ensure that its members interests are protected. Is it SAPOL’s preposterous suggestion that police officers’ interests should be sacrificed to simplify incident scenes?

Litster conceded, at least, that requests for PASA attendance would be met.

And in exactly what way would the presence of a PASA official and lawyer complicate an incident scene?

When one sees the sheer relief and hears the overwhelming gratitude of PASA-assisted police officers at incident scenes, one knows well where SAPOL’s moral obligation as an employer should lie.

Two recently-assisted police officers explained their gratitude in a letter soon to be published in The Readout. They wrote of the stress of their particular incident, and how they had been unable - because of other priorities - to focus on their own rights and interests. They described PASA’s help – which had been requested by their colleagues – as “remarkable” and “extremely beneficial”.

So does there remain a concealed truth about why SAPOL refuses to assist the connection between traumatized police and their association? One would hope that SAPOL’s intent is not to act against its employees’ interests while PASA is absent from these scenes.

Only the Police Association attends critical incidents for the protection of officers’ interests. All other attendees at these scenes have legitimate but completely different agendas - ones which don’t include officers’ interests.

The rights and wrongs of this issue are crystalline. SAPOL should dispense with its “spoiler” approach to PASA’s inclusion on the call-out list and rescind its 1998 ruling. No traumatized police officer should be denied fast association support.

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