Restructure of Saps set to go ahead

Unions have given the South African Police Service (Saps) the green light to embark on its restructuring programme.

The initiative is intended to cut costs within the service, address a top-heavy structure and put more boots on the ground.

In a statement yesterday, Saps said it had entered into a collective agreement with the unions at the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council.

The agreement with the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union and the South African Policing Union (Sapu) was made on 30 November.

As part of the process, the police service has started to offer early retirement packages to employees aged 55 and older.

In addition, it will reduce the number of current deputy national commissioners from four to three and rationalise the current 13 divisions to 10.

Popru welcomed the agreement, while Sapu said the restructuring would see the service get rid of its “bloated” top level and the re-establishment of specialised units to address specific crimes.

“The process will unfold in a phased-in approach and will cascade resources from head office divisions, provinces and districts down to police station level and specialised units where the core functions of policing are implemented,” the Saps statement read.

It added that senior managers would be redeployed and that policing at grassroots level would be strengthened.

“The matching and placing of members into the new structure will be done by the committees, which are being established by the national commissioner.”

As part of the restructuring, Saps will implement the district development policing model.

The process will unfold in a phased-in approach.

SA Police Service