# A professor in Criminology at the University of Pretoria, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, says South Africa has 187-thousand-681 police personnel, but only about 25-thousand operational officers may be available at any time. The total includes 155-thousand-231 sworn officers and 32-thousand-413 civilians who don’t do frontline policing. Speaking to 702, he says after suspensions, leave and absenteeism, about 100-thousand remain. Furthermore, because of rigid shift rotations, only a fraction are active at any given time. This equals to 59 officers per 100-thousand people, far below the UN guideline of 300, or one per two-thousand-564 residents.
Expert says only 25-thousand SAPS officers on duty at any time