Dear Portfolio Committee on Police,

The SAPS is the first point of contact with the law which the public has – receiving justice speedily and enforcing the law communicates an intolerance of criminality and discourages similar offences. #TrainThemAll Psychosocial Support for SAPS is an intentional urgent response to Compassion Fatigue and Burnout, which restores the public’s faith in the justice system through capacitating law enforcement officers. It focuses on: (1) The Bystander Effect; (2) Safe Spaces & Enforcing the Law, and (3) Industrial Revolution and GBV. A Solution-Focused perspective was employed to design tools which will efficiently assist both SAPS Officers and the Complainant. As part of creating safer spaces and enforcing the law, #TrainThemAll recognizes the significance of officers being in a functional state of mind in order to appropriately and effectively enforce the law when perpetrators undermine the Constitution.

The empirical theory that will be utilized to identify and treat symptoms of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout in members of the SAPS was postulated by Dr. William Glasser over 50 years ago and was called Choice Theory. Glasser posits that individuals may only control their own behaviour and can thus only provide others with information. It has since been recognized as a system for empowering individuals and improving relationships - it empowers individuals to assume responsibility for their choices, and to support others in taking ownership of their choices.

#TrainThemAll recognizes that police officers are also human beings with human responses. It is thus imperative to have a look at Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and the freedom afforded (or not afforded) to treat the mental and psychological spheres of existence as much as the physical is attended to. It is accurate then to regard them as more than law enforcers in their communities but as caregivers or “compassionate warriors.”

As such, #TrainThemAll also creates a safe space for officers where their grievances are also heard and attended to. Considering the demanding roles, police can thus experience adverse effects over a period of time which can be managed when there are effective measures designed to support personnel and bolster their efforts as a way to continually help victims cope and recover, in addition to facilitating the process of justice.