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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is dismayed to learn of a second death at the hands of the police in two weeks, this time in Kempton Park . Our condolences go to the victim and her family.

We understand that the victim crashed her car into a police vehicle outside the Kempton Park Police Station. An on-duty sergeant appears to have then walked out of the station and allegedly shot her dead.

This seems, by all accounts, to be another terrible tragedy –that it should coincide with our nation's Freedom Day is a horrible reminder of how far we still have to go to create a safe, caring and truly free society. Any police service should work in the best interests of the people it serves to protect, not against them. To this end, it needs to foster an environment where its conduct is beyond reproach and public faith is engendered and nurtured. Over the past few weeks, that requirement has been significantly undermined.

The DA welcomes the swift arrest of the man involved, and the fact that the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), the police watchdog body, has been called in to investigate.

The DA welcomes National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele's announcement that 8,500 crowd control officers will receive refresher courses on handling crowd protests. It is a step in the right direction. Police training needs to be overhauled – it is one of the key steps that we believe must be taken to ensure our officers receive the support they deserve. Ramping up police training will not only reduce incidents like the ones we have seen in the last two weeks, it will also assist the vast majority of officers in our police service who work tirelessly to protect ordinary citizens, and do so without the requisite support and assistance from the Department.

Two weeks ago, the tragic death of Andries Tatane in Ficksburg reminded us that Apartheid-era policing tactics are slowly creeping back into our police service. The current government has allowed that to happen by sidelining the ICD, and by allowing a minority of rogue officers to act with impunity.

These needless and terrible deaths are the consequence of a failure in properly training our officers; indeed, a failure in getting the basics of police oversight right. Unfortunately, one cannot separate these policy and leadership failures from the tragic incidents of the last few weeks.

The SAPS and its leadership have much to do if they are to turn the situation around and restore public faith in their purpose and conduct.