Police train to fight crime with kung-fu
HAVE you ever imagined the tricks performed by Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan in Chinese kungfu movies being displayed by South African police officers?
After the training course of police use of force instructors for the South African Police Service (SAPS), and the training course in Chinese kung-fu for the Ekurhuleni metro police department, this might turn into a reality.
“We expect the new skills to be used by our officers are out there when trying to apprehend criminals,” said Ugeshni Naidoo, deputy metro police chief in Ekurhuleni.
“For us, it is also the beginning of a partnership with Chinese police,” he said.
The three-month programme, which started in July, was the first kung-fu training between Chinese police and South African police, helping local officers to obtain basic martial art skills.
Enjoying popularity among local officers, the Chinese ministry of public security dispatched a team of instructors from Fujian Police College in November for a one-month training for 13 senior police instructors from SAPS.
The course focused on barehanded defence and control, use of police equipment and operational tactics.
In trying to display the concept of police law enforcement in China, the programme introduced the standard of training Chinese police, enhanced the trainees’ teaching abilities and helped increase and strengthen bilateral law enforcement.
The Chinese team incorporated kung-fu elements into police law enforcement operations during the training, introducing Chinese advanced concepts of law enforcement and training approaches in every session.
Overwhelmed by the practical techniques and masterly demonstrations, local officers showed great interest in the course, were enthusiastic during training and complained that the course was too short.
They said they hoped they could obtain further skills from their instructors.
Prof Zhang Bing, the director of the Chinese instructors’ team, congratulated the 13 SAPS instructors at the graduation ceremony that was held earlier this month.
“After one month’s great effort, all of you are to be granted a qualification certificate of police use of force instructors’ programme, which on one hand is a result of your hard work, and where our honour lies, on the other hand,” he said.
As a leading Chinese academy in teaching and training of police in the use of force, Fujian Police College has held many workshops for South African police officers. It selected four of its most senior police instructors with an international reputation and experience in training foreign police officers.
“Police officers are responsible for attacking crime and it requires lots of competence to achieve this,” said Zhang Bing.
“As police instructors in the use of force, we have our responsibilities to pass on our knowledge and skills to our students, equip them with professional abilities in order to realise our wish of safe law enforcement, and their safe return to their own families,” he said.
The Chinese ministry of public security has since invited seven Ekurhuleni metro police department officers and eight Tshwane metro police department officers to visit China to receive training in criminal investigation.
Wang Zhigang, police counsellor of the Chinese embassy in SA, said the Chinese ministry of public security had invited three to four groups of about 80 SAPS officers to visit China each year since 2013, during which they received training in criminal investigation, community policing and other techniques.
“It has happened on an annual basis and we will do it every year,” he said.