Cops slaap and shop oppie job - Officers probed for indiscipline after going viral in video

Cops slaap and shop oppie job - Officers probed for indiscipline after going viral in video

A VIDEO of a cop tieping in a marked SAPS vehicle, with its blue lights flashing while his colleague was shopping at Woolworths, has gone viral on social media. 

In the clip made by Member of Parliament Nicholas Gotsell, a Democratic Alliance NCOP Member on Security and Justice, he questions the cop about his sleeping, while armed and parked at a bus stop. 

SAPS have confirmed that the officer’s discipline is under investigation.

The post on Gotsell’s Facebook account has received over 5 400 likes and over 2 000 comments. 

In it, he asked the cop who is apparently on medication: “What emergency is this?” 

The officer answered: “We are busy with visible policing.” 

Gotsell hit back: “What visible policing are you doing when she is buying a coffee?”

The officer then wyses: “That is her problem.”

Gotsell replied: “And you are on medication, you just showed me, why are you driving? Go find a parking. I have informed Brigadier Van Niekerk [of Cape Town Central SAPS].”

To which the officer responds, “Yes, sir.”

Gotsell said his intention was to highlight the lack of accountability and discipline within the police department.

But the video has sparked public reaction that takes aim at both the cops and the MP. 

Gotsell said: “The facts are this took place in Green Point, which is not in Cape Town Central’s jurisdiction, so they are out of their jurisdiction. 

“When I initially approached the officer, he was asleep, and I then asked why he was parking where he was parking, and by then he had been parking there for quite a while while his colleague was in Woolworths.

“Despite having his commander on the phone, he continued to argue that he had a right to park there at the bus stop on the road. I put this on social media yesterday because not much happens in situations like this.”

A social media user responded with: “Hayboo, are they not human enough to buy coffee? What do you know about visible policing?” 

Another said: “So if he’s on medication, he cannot drive? What seems to be an issue here? Buying coffee? Being on medication? Driving? Parking in a bus stop? Or the fact that you know someone in SAPS?”

Jacques Weber of the Community Improvement District (CID), also shared his views and concerns via the post: “That’s exactly how members get targeted, killed, and worse, how firearms get stolen and end up in the wrong hands.”