A police officer counts "fine" for the car he's leaning against after the traffic officer who impounded it demanded 10,000 SSP for its release in April 2019 at Buluk | Credit | Ayuen Panchol/Eye Radio

Some officers demand bribes to free suspects due to delayed salary payment and the economic meltdown, according to the deputy police spokesperson, Col. James Dak.

“Will a police officer accept to starve if he sees an apple or an orange that can make him survive?” He told Eye Radio on Monday.

This comes after some members of the public say police stations do not adequately respond to cases of Gender-based violence and other crimes reported to them.

Col. Dak attributed some of the unprofessional conduct of the police force to the deployment of persons from sister security organs without taking formal police training.

“If I brought an ex-combatant and I gave him a rank just to buy peace, what would you expect from this kind of officer?” the spokesperson asked.

Others claim suspects are being freed without the due process of the law.

They asserted that some police officers are not always willing to help them with cases of assault and related matters not limited to domestic violence.

According to Transparency International, the police force is commonly identified as one of the most corrupt governmental institutions in many countries.

Police-related corruption may comprise of petty corruption where the public are expected to pay bribes for alleged traffic violations.

Other forms of corruption include freeing of suspects in exchange for money, conspiring with criminals and organized crime gangs in the trafficking of drugs, humans and weapons.

However, Colonel James Dak says the police department has sent most of its officers for training to stop the vice.

“We have sent them for police training so that they go over penal code, the criminal court of procedure and laws of evidence and child act and particularly the penal court and as well as police norms, which is to do with police conduct,” he explained.

However, Col. Dak claims that the unprofessional conduct of some police officers should be seen as an individual act but not as commissioned by the police institution.

“Each conduct is an individual act. We have what we call professional police standards and they deal with such cases. They try them and sentence them and some have been sentenced.”

In 2018 President Salva Kiir accused the police and other organized forces of being behind night robberies in Juba and other towns in the country.

Observers have blamed the crimes committed by soldiers and police officers on poor pay and bad economy.

Kuol Manyang, the then minister of defense, had earlier described the members of organized forces as weak-hearted for using their weapons to terrorize civilians.