Members of the newly formed highly specialised Metro Police Crowd Management Unit will be deployed at the Glebelands Community Residential Units (CRU) (formerly hostels) in Umlazi to maintain law and order following recent murders in the hostel.
As from tomorrow, 11 October 2014, about 70 of the 300-strong Crowd Management Unit members will be stationed at the CRU to deal with any volatile situation that may arise in the area.
The Metro Police deployment is in response to the recent call made by Premier Senzo Mchunu that security measures should be beefed up at Glebelands to combat crime and unrest.
Metro Police Director Rajen Chin said the Metro Police previously did not have the capacity to fully manage volatile situations but the 70 members that are being deployed to Glebelands Hostel are highly trained.
“Members of the Crowd Management Unit will be working closely with the members of the South African Police Services already deployed at the hostel,” he said.
Metro Police Captain Don Govender said the officers underwent intense crowd control management training in Pretoria.
“The officers have been trained to restore order where there is unrest as well as manage spontaneous unplanned marches, protests and public gatherings. These officers are tough and have a high degree of tolerance,” he said.
Govender said the officers are known as platoons because they work in groups and can only use a firearm as a last resort when instructed to do so by the platoon commander.
“The Crowd Management Unit members undergo on-going training which is based on the country’s Constitution and the Gatherings Act of South Africa,” he added.
Constable Londiwe Ndlangisa, 28, who has been a Metro Police Officer for seven years, said one had to be physically fit for the job and have a passion for protecting and serving the community.
“I am very excited about my new deployment. The training we underwent prepared us for the type of violent situations we may encounter in the line of duty. We were also taught that we must work in groups because there is strength in numbers and that we should not be easily intimidated,” she said.
Member of the Crowd Management Unit’s reaction team Constable Nolan Govender, 26, said his team is called in after all crowd control measures have failed and their mandate is to use force.
“Working as a member of the reaction unit is very different to the normal duties done by Metro Police Officers such by-law enforcement and crime prevention. This area of work is more intense,” he said.
Govender, who has been a Metro Police Officer for nine years, added that one of the lessons they were taught in training is to exercise high levels of tolerance even when faced with extreme provocation.
