The level of fitness of Police officers around the country is a risk they are currently  discussing, says the Police Commissioner, Ben Groenewald, during an interview.

“Unfortunately as it is, there are many Police officers who are totally overweight and that is an issue that we are discussing,” he said.

The Commissioner said they had their own fitness projects that officers needed to follow to stay fit.

“I have my own force medical officers who did the survey that indicates that the fitness of our officers needs improving.”

Asked if they were fit to defend themselves in a hand-to-hand contact situation he said: “Well that depends on the individual.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to be fit, to defend yourself; you can be unfit but still able to defend yourself; it all comes from the heart,” he said.

“Our people are well-trained to defend themselves and yes I agree we can improve on our physical fitness but it’s an individual issue that people need to look into.”

Meanwhile, the Commissioner has reminded Police officers not to use taxis when investigating cases.

“I think it’s unacceptable that they use their own money on taxis to investigate cases,” he said.

“I understand that it was a way of doing things in the past and I do not expect them to do it, but if they do there are ways and means we can assist them.

“Unfortunately we are fairly under-resourced in terms of vehicles; at this stage we have only 42 per cent mobility in our vehicles.

“I have submitted our request to the Minister for Finance and we are waiting for our vehicles to be delivered.”

He said to do proper policing they needed about 365 vehicles to service all the Police stations and posts.

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