A City traffic cop who allegedly tried to extort R15 000 from a drunk driver was busted this week after being investigated by the Hawks.
Renay Claudine Ruiters, 47, made a brief appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after she was arrested by the Hawk’s Serious Corruption Investigation team on the same day.
Hawks spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi, says Ruiters now faces corruption charges after she allegedly extorted R15 000 from a motorist who she arrested for drunk driving in September last year.
Vukubi says: “The matter was brought to the attention of the Hawks for probing and the arrest was effected.”
Ruiters was released on bail of R1000 and the case postponed to 5 April for further investigations, with Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, saying arrests like this “disgrace” the directorate.
He says: “We are disgraced any time one of our staff members in the City, whether uniform staff or otherwise, engage in that kind of misconduct, luckily it is a rare incident.”
Smith adds when they are alerted to alleged misconduct by officials, they act fast. He explains: “With very little time wastage, it is important to get them out of the services as quickly as possible. We have no patience for that.”
Meanwhile, the City is busy finalising the investigations into the three disgraced law enforcement officers who caused City authorities more skande after their alleged misconduct was shared on social media.
In one of the incidents, a law enforcement officer was filmed after falling asleep at a filling station while allegedly being dronk in a state vehicle.
In the video, the cop can be seen eating ice cream while he is being driven home by a civilian after allegedly tieping in the parked vehicle for hours.
Smith confirmed: “We will shortly also release an update on the three law enforcement officers who behaved disgracefully in December.
“Their disciplinary cases are now at a point where we can give feedback. One of them left his employment at the City.”