scholarly journals ‘When I see them I feel like beating them’: Corruption and the South African Police Service

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Faull
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
South African ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Police Corruption ◽  
The Past ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Citizen Attitudes ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
South African Police

South African survey data on citizen attitudes towards police have, for the past ten years, indicated a lack of trust in law enforcers. Similarly, the SAPS has, since the early nineties, developed a public image as a widely corrupt organisation. In 2010 the SAPS reverted to military ranks and adopted a discourse of 'force' in an attempt to improve discipline, effectiveness and image. This paper presents a summary of findings from 15 focus groups conducted in mid-2010 that sought to explore public experiences and perceptions of police and police corruption.

Policing During and After Apartheid

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonny Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
State Coercion ◽  
South African Police ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter addresses the question of historical continuity and change within the South African Police Service after the end of apartheid. The prevalent interest in continuity between apartheid and post-apartheid policing risks blinding scholarship to what has changed. At the heart of this change lies the relationship between policing and political order, between politics and state coercion. Whereas during apartheid the police was primarily driven by the fight against insurgency, the police in democratic South Africa is primarily tasked with managing the conflicts of the ruling ANC. This chapter argues that instruments, institutions and mentalities from the past survive insofar as they are useful to agents in the present.

scholarly journals Going the extra mile: Police training on domestic violence

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heléne Combrinck ◽  
Lorenzo Wakefield
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
South African ◽  
Police Training ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
The Past ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
Training Methodologies ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Training Programmes

As anticipated by the drafters of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA),the South African Police Service holds the key to the successful implementation of the Act. Over the past ten years, researchers and independent bodies tasked with monitoring the implementation of this legislation have consistently called for more training for police officials on how to deal with domestic violence. However, the reality is that police officials already receive such training. The question that therefore arises is why these training programmes appear to be ineffective in ensuring compliance with the DVA. A recently completed research and advocacy project found that although the majority of SAPS members interviewed had a basic understanding of the DVA and its key concepts, their ability to apply its provisions in practical problemsolving scenarios was often limited, leading to the recommendation that training methodologies should be more practice-oriented if they are to improve DVA compliance.

Empowering Women in Blue Uniforms—Gender and Police in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanta Singh ◽  
Sultan Khan
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Work ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Female Officers

Gender in the police force has received scant attention by researchers, although there are complex social dimensions at play in how male and female law enforcement officers relate to each other in the workplace. Given the fact that males predominate in the police force, their female counterparts are often marginalised due to their sexual orientation and certain stereotypes that prevail about their femininity. Male officers perceive female officers as physically weak individuals who cannot go about their duties as this is an area of work deemed more appropriate to men. Based on this perception, female officers are discriminated against in active policing and often confined to administrative duties. This study looks at how female police officers are discriminated against in the global police culture across the globe, the logic of sexism and women’s threat to police work, men’s opposition to female police work, gender representivity in the police force, and the integration and transformation of the South African Police Service to accommodate female police officers. The study highlights that although police officers are discriminated against globally, in the South African context positive steps have been taken to accommodate them through legislative reform.

Safeguarding the Republic? The South African Police Service, Legitimacy and the Tribulations of Policing a Violent Democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-108
Author(s):  
Guy Lamb
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
The Republic ◽  
South African Police ◽  
High Crime ◽  
Excessive Use Of Force

Since 1994 the South African Police Service (SAPS) has undertaken various efforts to build legitimacy in South Africa. Extensive community policing resources have been made available, and a hybrid community-oriented programme (sector policing) has been pursued. Nevertheless, public opinion data has shown that there are low levels of public trust in the police. Using Goldsmith’s framework of trust-diminishing police behaviours, this article suggests that indifference, a lack of professionalism, incompetence and corruption on the part of the police, particularly in high-crime areas, have eroded public trust in the SAPS. Furthermore, in an effort to maintain order, reduce crime and assert the authority of the state, the police have adopted militaristic strategies and practices, which have contributed to numerous cases of excessive use of force, which has consequently weakened police legitimacy in South Africa

scholarly journals Total Quality Management (TQM): A Catalyst for Service Delivery in the South African Police Service

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Michael Reddy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
South Africans ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
War Zone ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors ◽  
Policy Solutions

September 2014 marked the release of the 2013/14 crime statistics in South Africa by the National Commissioner of the SAPS and the Minister of Police. Does a sense of safety and security fill the atmosphere? Do most South Africans, investors, and tourists alike believe that the crime rate in South Africa is reflective of a war zone and that South Africa is in a quagmire that engenders irretrievable damage to the lives of the citizenry and the economy? It is accepted that crime is a conflation of a number of economic, social and cultural factors; hence as a reviewable point, can the SAPS ensure the development of unassailable and perpetual policy solutions, underpinned with the highest quality that provides a guarantee of the citizen’s basic constitutional right to freedom and life. This article reviews literature on TQM and extrapolates lessons learnt to the practical functioning of the SAPS with a view to provide a myriad of TQM principles that may be considered by SAPS Management; this could serve as a catalyst for an improved policing service in South Africa.

scholarly journals Frontline police employees’ social construction of client service

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Karel Stanz ◽  
G. J. Schwart ◽  
W. J. Schurink
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
South African ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Frontline Employees ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
The Social ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Satisfaction Model

The social construction of frontline employees’ client service plays a major role in organisational success. This study illuminated why frontline personnel are reluctant to accept organisational change which is in line with new policing philosophies. Applying modernist qualitative methodology, and particularly grounded theory within a case study design a ‘process satisfaction model’ was developed with the aim to improve employee satisfaction with internal processes and ultimately service delivery. This model may be used for change in the South African Police Service SAPS) and other government departments.

scholarly journals Concepts of multifaceted social support in operational work in the lives of South African Police Service members

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masefako A. Gumani
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
South African ◽  
Linear Process ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Social Support Network ◽  
Network Systems ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Vhembe District

Orientation: The extensive role that social support plays in the lives of South African Police Service (SAPS) members outside of the expected work networks of professionals and colleagues should be further studied to reflect on the benefits received when handling the stressful and traumatic effects of operational work.Research purpose: The objective of this study was to describe the concepts of multifaceted social support network systems as perceived by SAPS members in the context of the Vhembe District (South Africa) in assisting them to deal with the effects of their operational work.Motivation for the study: There is still a call in social research to focus on the influence of different functions and sources of social support.Research design, approach and method: A descriptive phenomenological research design was used, and 20 SAPS participants were selected through purposive sampling. Unstructured,face-to-face interviews, field notes, telephone follow-ups and diaries were used to collect data which was subsequently analysed through phenomenological explication.Main findings: The results show that social support is not a linear process but is multifaceted,depending on specific operational settings. Furthermore, the social support network system identified is informed by the values of communal living in the Vhembe District as well as in the operational context in which the SAPS members work.Practical/managerial implications: The SAPS should help initiate and involve, during the debriefing of operational members, types and functions of social support that are dependent on organisational and community contexts.Contribution/value-add: This study makes a meaningful contribution to understanding that social support in the SAPS operational context is different from other contexts.

scholarly journals UNLAWFUL ARREST AND UNLAWFUL DETENTION: SEPARATE GROUNDS OF ACTION AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES Mvu v Minister of Safety and Security 2009 6 SA 82 (GSJ)

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Neethling ◽  
JM Potgieter
Keyword(s):  
Police Officer ◽  
South African ◽  
Punitive Damages ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Love Relationship ◽  
South African Police ◽  
A Charge

In Mvu v Minister of Safety and Security the plaintiff, an inspector in the South African Police Service was arrested without a warrant for malicious damage to property (his 15-year old daughters’ cellphones). It transpired that the plaintiff, while on police business in Gauteng, visited his daughters. He became enraged when he discovered that they had received cellphones by way of a “love relationship”, whereupon he took the cellphones and threw them to the ground, seriously damaging them. The daughters went to apolice station and laid a charge against the plaintiff for malicious damage to property. The police officer seized with the matter telephoned the plaintiff who immediately travelled to meet him. Upon arrival he arrested the plaintiff and imprisoned him overnight with six other men and set him free the following afternoon on warning. When the matter eventually came to court, the plaintiff was discharged at the end of the state’s case. 

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