Police officers arrested after
pulling a gun on a 3 year old
Police officer tried to solicit a bribe from the woman
after she failed to produce her drivers licence and another held a gun against
her 3 year old girls head threatening to shoot her.
Crime Line and Justice Project South
Africa announced that two Tshwane Metro Police officers involved in the alleged
extortion and armed robbery of a motorist, and the traumatisation of a
3-year-old child near Zandfontein Cemetery on Monday, January 26), have been
arrested.
The 25-year-old woman was driving with her
children, a 2-year-old boy, who was strapped in to his seat in the back, and
the 3-year-old girl, who was in the passenger seat when she was stopped by the
metro policeman. It is alleged that the officer tried to solicit a bribe from
the woman after she failed to produce her drivers licence.
When the woman refused to pay a bribe
and her 3-year-old daughter began to cry, one of the metro cops allegedly drew
his firearm and threatened to shoot the child. Money was then forcibly grabbed
out of the vehicle’s ashtray.
The matter was reported to Hercules
Police Station. After an intensive investigation two Metro cops were arrested.
In a joint statement Crime Line and
Justice Project South Africa say these crimes are very serious indeed and
should be treated as such.
“Crime Line and JPSA wishes to urge all
motorists to refrain from resorting to paying bribes and to immediately report
any solicitation of bribes at the time they are demanded. We also wish to urge
the public to join us in demanding that swift and harsh action is taken against
any law enforcement official who abuses their power in order to extort monies
from members of the public. The severest sentences should be handed down by the
courts when law enforcement officers are convicted of extortion and/or
corruption.
The same should apply to motorists who
think that it is okay to summarily bribe traffic officials,” reads the
statement.
Howard Dembovsky, National Chairperson
of JPSA, said “urgent interventions” were required to clamp down on rotten metro
police officers. “We are very concerned. We need decisive action by
municipalities and law enforcement agencies.”
Crime Line head, Yusuf Abramjee, has
compliment the SAPS and Tshwane Metro Police for the swift action. “We need to
get the rotten metro cops behind bars. We appeal to the public to blow the
whistle on these crooked cops.”
Abramjee recently reported two Tshwane
officers who tried to solicit a bribe from him. They were subsequently nabbed.
Six other officers were subsequently implicated in corruption and robbery in
two separate incidents.
Crime Line and the JPSA said itwould
engage the Gauteng provincial government and local authorities “to find ways of
clamping down on corruption.
Similar anti-corruption hotline lists
are planned for the rest of South Africa and will be released as they become
available.
The below is a facebook post on
26/01/2015 prior to the officers arrest.
