scholarly journals WRONGFUL ARREST: A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE IMPACT OF THE CONSTITUTION IN RECENT CASE LAW

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Scott
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Services ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Maximum Period ◽  
Police Official ◽  
Standard Practices ◽  
South African Police ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Impact

In recent times there has been a proliferation of press reports about ordinary, law-abiding citizens who suffered the indignity and inconvenience of a wrongful (unlawful) arrest at the hands of officers of the South African Police Service or Metro Police Services. According to the most recent of these reports, this increase in the incidence of wrongful arrests have even resulted in deliberations between members of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and the top management of the SAPS, in which the latter undertook to pay special attention to the training of police officers in order to better the present state of affairs. It is not far-fetched to describe thepresent situation on the ground in respect of wrongful arrests as epidemic. In recent interviews with attorneys who have been representing clients in wrongful arrest claims against the Minister of Safety and Security, the present writer was told about certain standard practices regarding arrests: it would seem that it is a favourite practice among certain police officials to arrest suspects on a Friday, or even a Thursday afternoon, in order to prolong the normal 48-hour maximum period of detention before bringing an arrestee before court. Furthermore, metro police spokespersons often announce, at the beginning of some road-safety drive or crack-down on traffic offenders, that certain types of offenders will, without exception, be arrested. The worst recent example recounted to the author of lamentable conduct in this context on the part of a high-ranking police official concerns an order issued on a Friday afternoon in which the officers under his command were ordered to endeavour arresting more persons of a specific ethnic group, seeing that the weekend population of the police cells under his command did not reflect the demographics of his jurisdiction!

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.

scholarly journals Occupational Stress, Personality Traits, Coping Strategies, and Suicide Ideation in the South African Police Service

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus Pienaar ◽  
Sebastiaan Rothmann ◽  
Fons J. R. van de Vijver
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Occupational Stress ◽  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Suicide Ideation ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
South African Police

The objective of this study is to determine whether suicide ideation among uniformed police officers of the South African Police Service could be predicted on the basis of occupational stress, personality traits, and coping strategies. Using a cross-sectional survey design, the Adult Suicide Ideation Questionnaire, the Police Stress Inventory, the Personality Characteristics Inventory, and the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced are administered to a stratified random sample of 1,794 police employees from eight South African provinces. A logistic regression analysis shows that low scores on conscientiousness, emotional stability, approach coping, and turning to religion as well as high scores on avoidance coping are associated with more suicide ideation.

scholarly journals Suicide Ideation in the South African Police Services in the Northwest Province

2002 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Rothmann ◽  
G. Strijdom
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Sense Of Coherence ◽  
Suicide Ideation ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Services ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Police Personnel ◽  
Study Population ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Northwest Province

The South African Police Service (SAPS) shows relatively high numbers of suicide. However, little is known about the suicide ideation of members within the SAPS.The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between sense of coherence, job satisfaction and suicide ideation among police personnel. The study population consisted of 120 police personnel in the NorthWest Province. The results show that sense of coherence is related to suicide ideation in the case of white police members. Sense of coherence and satisfaction with independence, social status and supervision explained 55,30% of the variance in the suicide ideation scores of white police members. Opsomming ’n Relatiewe hoe getal selfmoorde kom in die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisiediens (SAPD) voor. Min inligting oor die selfmoorddenk-beeldvorming van lede van die SAPD is egter bekend. Die doelstelling van hierdie navorsing was om te bepaal of daar ’n verband bestaan tussen koherensiesin en werkstevredenheid enersyds en selfmoorddenkbeeldvorming by polisiepersoneel andersyds. Die ondersoekgroep het bestaan 120 lede van die SAPD in die Noordwes-Provinsie. Die resultate toon aan dat koherensiesin by wit polisiebeamptes verband hou met selfmoorddenkbeeldvorming. Koherensiesin en ontevredenheid met onafhanklikheid, status en toesighouding het 55,30% variansie in die selfmoorddenkbeeldvorming van wit polisiepersoneel verklaar.

scholarly journals Exploring the meaning of trauma in the South African Police Service: A systems psychodynamic perspective

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marna Young ◽  
Pieter Koortzen ◽  
Rudolf M. Oosthuizen
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
South African Police

Orientation: This study explores individual stories of trauma and their dissonance with the official, dominant discourse on trauma in the South African Police Service (SAPS) from a systems psychodynamic perspective.Research purpose: The purpose of the research was, firstly, to explore how trauma experienced by South African Police Service members is constructed or ‘talked about’ and made sense of. Questions and issues that are considered relevant to the primary purpose are: which aspects of the working environment do members consider to be the most stressful, traumatic and difficult to cope with, and what is the effect of the change and transition processes on members’ working experiences?Motivation for the study: The authors set out to explore the role of systems psychodynamics in the experience of trauma and stress in the SAPS.Research design, approach and method: Through this qualitative, explorative, social phenomenological study, contributing circumstances and processes are included as additional discourses in an attempt to deepen understanding. The epistemology viewpoint of the study is found in the social constructionism and the data comprise 15 essays by members of the SAPS, all of which have been analysed from the perspective of systems psychodynamics.Main findings: Although the effect of trauma on police officers can never be negated, the way in which they deal with trauma seems to be different from what was initially believed. Further, their experience of stress is not solely the result of traumatic experiences but rather the result of traumatic experiences and systems psychodynamics operating within their organisation – which includes both organisational stressors or dynamics and transformation dynamics.Practical/managerial implications: The history of psychological trauma indicates that constructions of traumatic stress are strongly related to cultural, social and political circumstances. Current psychoanalytic thinking emphasises the meaning of the real occurrence, which causes trauma by changing the person’s experience of the self in relation to self-objects. Practical implications are the loss of the supportive subculture of the police, the loss of masculinity, as well as the loss of the power to be competent and meaningful. Furthermore, feelings of being overwhelmed, powerless and helpless generate anxiety and may have a significant impact on officers’ self-esteem and impede their feelings of omnipotence and invulnerability, which are necessary to cope in the policing environment.Contribution/value-add: The current study found various traumatic and systemspsychodynamic factors and processes to be anxiety-provoking as a result of exposure to trauma. Without a supportive social group the anxiety becomes uncontained and unmanageable.

scholarly journals South African Police Services Officials` Perceptions of Community-Police Relations in Durban, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 224-230
Author(s):  
Siyanda Dlamini ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Police Services ◽  
Prevention Activities ◽  
South African Police

Police officers’ views about police-citizen relationships are shaped not only by opportunities to interact with community residents during normal police work but also in part by efforts due to the larger police mission of encouraging and supporting such attitudes. In recent years, police in different countries has shifted from the traditional reactive form of policing towards community-oriented approaches. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore police officers’ views of citizen-police relationships and community policing in Durban, South Africa. A qualitative research approach was adopted, to explore such perceptions in the study area. The findings collected through semi-structured interviews with the South African Police Services personnel suggested that police officer were dissatisfied and at best ambiguous about citizens’ participation in crime prevention activities or support for the police in a township dwelling. However, in a suburban area, the perceptions marked an improvement in their attitudes on various dimensions. These include officers’ views about the overall police mission, increased emphasis on service-oriented policing in contrast to a law enforcement approach, support for community policing, perceived citizens’ willingness to cooperate with the police in crime prevention activities, and decreased cynicism about citizens. These findings suggest confidence in the utility of community policing ideas.

Fighting for Respect

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Faull
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
The South ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
South African Police

This chapter analyzses the discourses and practices in South African police stations on violence and authority, particularly during the months following a police massacre of striking platinum miners at Marikana. Police officers who were not present at the shooting instinctively defended their colleagues from external criticism. This chapter suggests that members of the South African Police Service believe that the use of violent force in the performance of their duties is necessary to gain the respect of the communities they serve, which is also linked to constructions of masculinity.

scholarly journals Avoiding another Marikana massacre: Why police leadership matters

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Newham
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
National Development ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Misleading Evidence ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Police Supervisors ◽  
South African Police

The Marikana Commission of Inquiry report presented damning findings against the South African Police Service (SAPS) National Commissioner, Riah Phiyega, and the senior commanders involved in the Marikana massacre. Their decision to disarm and disperse striking miners was found to be flawed and to have resulted in police officers unjustifiably shooting 112 striking mineworkers, killing 34 of them. Moreover, their integrity was found wanting on the basis that Phiyega and her senior commanders withheld crucial evidence, constructed misleading evidence, and provided untruthful testimony before the commission. This article argues that a necessary condition for improvements to take place in the SAPS relates to improving the top leadership of the organisation. Fortunately, the National Development Plan provides a starting point as to how this can be achieved.‘Police supervisors at any level need to be aware that their behaviour has a strong impact on the organisational culture, which in turn contributes to police behaviour.’

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