National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has condemned ongoing attacks against the men and women in blue and has now called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare the murder of police officers as treason.

"Our first line of defence is our police officers, and criminals have declared war on them."

Police unions are demanding harsher sentences for police killers and better resources for officers.

"The call we are making is to declare police killings as treason, for it is a crime against the state. Police officers represent the state; they are not acting on their own, whether they are on duty or off duty," says Lesiba Thobakgale of the South African Policing Union (Sapu).

"There have been a number of attacks on police stations as well, where in most cases police were killed, whether on or off duty. They are mainly killed for their firearms. It's quite outrageous," says Richard Mamabolo of the Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru).

"This is not a new debate, we've been engaging with the SAPS over the years, and up until now there has not been a plan to deal with police killings."

To bolster capacity, over 10 000 newly trained officers have joined law enforcement ranks in 2022.

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