Pretoria – The South African Police Service (SAPS) has warned the public about misleading advertisements regarding the recruitment of new constables.

The adverts are apparently being circulated through the social media application WhatsApp and on the www.salearnership.com website.

SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said there are currently no posts advertised for police trainees.

“The advertisements form part of a scam aimed at misleading the public and possibly corruptly attempting to enlist candidates into the SAPS. Whilst the SAPS is looking into the origins of these adverts, we urge those who are interested in joining the SAPS as trainees, to ignore them,” he said.

He advised members of the public not to be misled by any false advertisements or advertising scams and to report these activities to the police.

According to Makgale, the SAPS has implemented a revised recruitment strategy, which is strictly regulated by a policy framework and is based on the aspiration to recruit and develop new generation police officers.

This is through the regulating, standardising and professionalising the recruitment, selection and enlistment process to ensure a community-orientated recruitment and selection process in order to address the risks associated with corruption in recruitment practises.

Makgale said any vacancies will be advertised on the official website of the SAPS and in local community newspapers.

The names of the applicants will then be published in local newspapers for public comment.

The applicants will then be subjected to a “grooming camp” where they are vetted to check their criminal record status, match their fingerprints to their ID and go through a battery of psychometric, integrity and physical tests to ensure they are of the right calibre before final selection will be conducted.

The successful applicants will be presented to the local community for final comments and/or input.

A provincial recruitment board, constituted of internal and external role players, will then consider the results of the grooming camp and comments from the local community before the Provincial Commissioner submits the final recommendations to the National Commissioner for approval.