By Staff Reporter

Early detection of police officials who are stressed might prevent incidents of members of the police service killing their partners and thereafter committing suicide, North West Premier Thandi Modise said on Friday.

Premier Modise said that post-traumatic stress disorder associated with conditions that police experience during the course of their work demand for advanced psychological services to ensure that whatever pressures police experience in their personal lives do not trigger violent reaction.

“We are concerned about incidents of violence that have resulted in loss of lives involving members of the police service particularly as they have occurred close to one another” said Modise. 

 The Premier’s comment follows a report that another police officer shot his life-partner dead before turning the gun on himself in Tlhabane near Rustenburg.

According to police, the incident took place during the early hours of the morning after neighbours reportedly overheard the pair arguing before they heard gun shots

Captain Amanda Funani said that the Tlhabane police were called at Geelhout Park in Rustenburg where they found two bodies of a 33 year-old constable and his 32 year-old girlfriend lying on the floor with gunshot wounds.

The incident follows another tragedy in Modimong village near Taung where a 26 year-old Constable Boitumelo Kwate shot his girlfriend Portia Mojakgolo(21) on a hip before turning a gun on himself on Christmas eve.