More than one million South African youths have applied to join the Police Service. It is reported that only 5,500 posts are available.

Of the more than 1,049,998 applications received by the midnight deadline on Friday night, 595,049 were female applicants and 454,949 were male applicants.

Gauteng had the highest number of applicants for the Basic Police Development Learning Programme followed by KwaZulu-Natal.

National Police Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says over 300,000 applicants are graduates.

“334,765 applicants are in possession of a NQF 6 Diploma and higher qualifications. It is important that we note that first preference will be given to graduates in Law, Policing, IT, Criminology, BSC graduates and then followed by graduates from other disciplines that are in possession of a driving license. We will also consider matriculants that have a Bachelors entry into university, also those with driver’s license,” says Mathe.