Police feast a lavish cop-out

IT appears as if the South African Police Service is incapable of doing the right thing — be it rooting out corrupt or violent officers, or getting rid of a national commissioner who often seems unable to get to grips with leading the men and women who are meant to safeguard our nation.

But perhaps the police’s top brass felt that they needed some joy at the end of a bad year of publicity when they decided to throw themselves a swanky party this Thursday.

In stark contrast to the past year of horrors — the dragging of Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macie behind a police van comes to mind — the police’s human resource development division will hold its annual Christmas party, billed as Galaxy: Night of the Stars.

First, the division’s top officers and their partners will be flown to Oudtshoorn for two nights, followed by a chauffeured drive to the police’s George training academy.

There they will dine on a lavish menu of roast leg of lamb, lamb shank and fillet steak before returning home.

The funds were secured from money meant for feeding trainees at the 10 police academies around South Africa.

Instead, the academies contributed R50 000 each to the party from the money they saved from the R70 a day allowance each trainee receives from the state.

How to begin to justify such extravagance in an economic downturn, particularly when it involves senior police personnel?

The police face many challenges and, certainly, do not enjoy the confidence, respect and trust of the public it is meant to protect. Wanton extravagance will do little to restore their credibility. But it is perhaps too much to ask that police commissioner General Riah Phiyega take the lead and scrap this outrageous wastefulness.