scholarly journals 'Darker shades of blue': A comparison of three decades of South African Police Service culture

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Steyn ◽  
Sazelo Mkhize
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Police Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Service Culture ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
South African Police

Research and thought on the public police have emphasized the value of police culture in comprehending the various aspects of policing. Recently a ‘contemporary police culture’ school of thought has risen, challenging prevailing traditional portrayals of homogeneity and universality. Aficionadas of this method argue that new developments in police and policing have dramatically changed police culture and conventional characterisations do not reflect the complex minutiae of the police character, and as such are antiquated, illogical and useless. This manuscript is an attempt to contribute towards this debate by gauging indicators evincing police culture solidarity, isolation, and cynicism amongst a representative sample of South African Police Service (SAPS) functional police officials with ten (10), twenty (20), and thirty (30) years SAPS experience.   

Solidarity, isolation, and cynicism: An attitudinal analysis of the police culture in the South African Police Service

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vuyelwa Maweni
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
Basic Training ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
South African Police

Numerous scholars have contributed to the police culture body of knowledge (Cockcroft 2013; O’Neill, Marks & Singh 2007; Sklansky 2005). They submit that the traditional understanding of police culture is no longer relevant due to the new developments that have transpired in policing, which have consequently changed the police culture. More specifically, they suggest that the South African Police Service (SAPS) too has witnessed changes in the traits of its police culture that accentuate the cynicism of and isolation from the public. This article is an attempt to challenge this narrative by comparing the police culture themes of solidarity, isolation, and cynicism attitudes of two different cohorts of new South African Police Service (SAPS) recruits separated by ten years. By making use of the 30-item police culture themes of solidarity, isolation, and cynicism questionnaire, designed by Steyn (2005), the article establishes that a representative sample (138 out of a population of 140) of new SAPS recruits from the SAPS Chatsworth Basic Training Institute (August 2015), have remarkably similar attitudes in support of police culture themes of solidarity, isolation, and cynicism, compared to a representative sample of all new SAPS recruits that started their basic training in January 2005 (Steyn, 2005). Although small in representation, the study refutes the claims that traditional understandings of police culture are no longer relevant and that the traits of the police culture in the South African Police Service (SAPS) has so changed that it accentuates the cynicism of and isolation from the public.

scholarly journals MAY THE ACCUSED (MINISTER OF SAFETY AND SECURITY) PLEASE RISE BEFORE THE COURT: POLICE LIABILITY VERSUS PARTIAL IMMUNITY

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth K. Sithebe
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
The South ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Armed Robbery ◽  
Police Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Legal Duty ◽  
South African Police

This article is written in light of the increasing number of civil actions brought against the South African Police Service (SAPS). Among the most recent cases is that of a Witbank woman and her daughter who instituted an action for damages because an escaped prisoner shot and killed the woman’s husband with a service pistol that the prisoner had stolen from the police. Another related claim is that of Mr Gerber who was shot during an armed robbery at his home in a security complex. Mr Gerber claimed R5.6 million from the Minister of Safety and Security for failing to protect South African citizens. In this article I analyse cases brought against the SAPS. I further illustrate that the state is liable for any delictual act committed by the SAPS, and that the state has a legal duty to protect its citizens and prevent them from harm or any form of violence. However, this does not justify the increasing number of civil actions instituted against the SAPS. My submission investigates whether there is any form of defence on which the state can rely – not to escape liability, but to uphold the functions, duties and reputation of the SAPS. I will argue that the monetary amounts claimed in these civil actions are not in the best interest of the public or that of the SAPS.

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 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. 

scholarly journals UNFIT TO OWN A FIREARM? The role of the police in firearm control

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Minnaar ◽  
Duxita Mistry
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Firearm Control ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

This article draws on a study that examined aspects of the implementation by the South African Police Service (SAPS) of section 11 of the old Arms and Ammunition Act. This section refers to the declaration by the police of a person to be unfit to possess a licensed firearm.Although the police are more vigilant than ever about declaring people unfit, their lack of knowledge about the process needs to be addressed, as does the tendency of police and prosecutors to blame each other for problems that arise. Unless these deficiencies are ironed out soon, they will obstruct the execution of the new Firearms Control Act.

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