Cape Town - The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) will be engaging with SAPS management to encourage them to update their systems as one applicant has been struggling for seven years to join the force.
Despite matriculating with a Bachelor’s pass, Thurlough Loock took to TikTok to raise concerns about his experience and how he tried each year to apply for the Basic Police Learning Development Programme (BPLDP) but to this day had heard nothing on the outcome of his applications.
“Becoming a police officer was one of my goals. I wanted to join the force to not only protect the community, but to also make a positive impact in society.
“My journey began in 2016, where I filled in my first forms and received no feedback. Then in 2017, I sent in my forms again. I got a response to go write the first test and I waited about two to three weeks for a response. I then went to write the second test, but the waiting game continued, then nothing.
“In 2018, I sent another application again and was invited to write again, but like previous years, no response. I tried again in 2019 and this time, I went to go write my test in Philippi. There I wrote both exams over again. Mind you, I already know how the second one should be answered, yet I wrote it anyway, still no response. In the year 2020, before the pandemic, I wrote a test again and this time I was told to only write the second examination paper.
“A few of my friends who have also applied with me experienced the same issue. We spoke about how we found it difficult to be accepted into SAPS and people who finished after us got accepted.
“The following year, 2021, I applied again and despite the constant silence, I figured that it could be my race that prevents me from going forward,” said Loock.
In the comment section of the video, several other users also shared their experience of how difficult it was to get into the academy despite meeting the requirement of competency and physical fitness.
Startled by the video, Popcru provincial secretary Pat Raolane said that while it should not be a struggle to get into the academy, there are several factors that are considered before application is processed. He added it was the duty of the SAPS to explain this information to the applicants.
“It should not be a struggle to get into the SAPS academy; however, the challenge is that young people are sometimes caught or arrested for drunken-driving cases and sometimes they pay fines or what we call a police bail, and it is so unfortunate that a police bail will mean an admission of guilt and will remain in the system as such. It is, however, the duty of the SAPS to explain this information to the applicants,” said Raolane.
National police spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe said that the SAPS receives more than 500 000 applications yearly and with the number of applications received, it unfortunately makes it impossible for the organisation to inform each applicant individually on the outcome of their applications if they are not successful.
“Recruiting and selecting the right candidates to serve as police officers is of paramount importance to the continued success of the work and mandate of the SAPS. This recruitment process sets out to ensure that only deserving applicants are chosen based on merit and that this process is free from bias, nepotism and discrimination. To ensure transparency, the recruitment process is monitored by a board consisting of the senior management of the SAPS as well as external stakeholders inclusive of community members.
“While the SAPS would like to ensure that all applicants are given the opportunity to serve as force multipliers and join the fight against crime, it is rather unfortunate that not all applicants will be chosen given the limited number of space available to recruit and train aspiring police officers, taking into account that the process to recruit and select police trainees attracts more than 500 000 applicants a year,” said Mathe.
With the subject matter at hand, Raolane added that Popcru will engage with SAPS management to encourage them to update their systems and inform applicants of their status before writing aptitude tests.
“It can’t be correct that a person goes for the same aptitude test or physical assessment more than twice. This just means someone is sleeping on duty, and we are more concerned about incidents of this nature because it denies deserving students opportunities of a lifetime, and it is unwarranted.
“We are to engage with SAPS management on this matter so that deserving, qualified individuals must come on board and that those who did not qualify must be informed promptly, including the reasons why they did not qualify. Perhaps if it is not related to the medical capacity, they can be advised to reapply or be given a second chance with condition to improve on whatever case it might be.
“We also are aware that Covid-19 might have played a role, but on this matter of the young man who is on TikTok, there is no excuse, this is just pure neglect because it looks like it had occurred before Covid-19, and must be re-looked at,” said Raolane.
Weekend Argus