Police were dealing with corruption and criminals found within their own ranks, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele said on Tuesday.

"Right now the list that I have is that we have arrested 556 of them. They are arrested by ourselves," he said in Pretoria.

"We are in safe hands with the many, many good officers who deal thoroughly with those ugly guys."

Cele said there was corruption everywhere and "even Jesus Christ found one among the twelve".

He was responding to a question on police corruption and officers who had been found drinking while on duty.

"The major question is what do you do when you find them. So much said about the corruption of police and nothing said about what it is being done," he said.

The country's prisons were overflowing, he said, and among those prisoners were many corrupt policemen against whom action had been taken.

"There are hundreds of police arrested. In the Free state alone, there are 107 arrested," he said.

Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said society should avoid "painting with one brush everyone in the police".

He conceded, however, that there were "rotten potatoes" among the police.

"A stern warning has to be sent to those who think that being in the police means you can do as you wish, you can treat people with contempt. There are such potatoes," he said.