Community policing and stock theft in selected rural areas of the Mpumalanga province of South Africa

A slight decrease in stock theft in many provinces in South Africa must be commended irrespective of the reasons behind the decrease because it is a step in the right direction. However, an increase in stock theft in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa is a cause for concern and must be handled with urgency. This paper examines the extent to which the community is involved in the fight against stock theft in the rural areas of the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The study employed a qualitative research approach that used semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect data. The sample consisted of 22 participants selected through purposive sampling, who included farmers, herdsmen, Community Police Forum members, and community leaders. The study found that the community in the rural areas of Mpumalanga is not involved in the fight against stock theft and that this could mainly be attributed to the poor relationship between the South African Police Service and the community. It was also found that poverty and unemployment are the main contributing factors to increased stock theft in the rural areas of the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Local Municipality in Mpumalanga.

Evaluating the Nature and Extent of Burglary at Residential Premises in Namakgale Policing Area, South Africa

The main objective of this paper was to explore the nature and extent of burglary at residential grounds in the Namakgale policing area, after realisation of higher manifestations and uncontrollable nature of this crime. This paper utilised a qualitative research approach, supported by the phenomenological research design. Altogether, 30 participants were purposively selected from diverse target groups, which consists of the South African Police Service Detectives, uniform police officers, Community Policing Forum (CPF) members and managers, Community Leaders and Faith-based organisation leaders, and local community members. The objectives of the paper were realised by the use of one-on-one semi-structured interviews for data collection, and thematic analysis, in order to analyse the gathered data. Research findings of this paper revealed that the current strategies of traditional policing, such as a) foot patrolling offered by the selected stakeholders, and b) the vehicle patrolling rendered by the local SAPS members, are deemed to be ineffective. There is an increase in the number of burglaries at residential premises at Namakgale policing area, and the reported cases tend to be often unsolved. There are constant complaints made by community members about burglary in their premises. It is also established that security systems can play an essential role in deterring the commission of this crime and the failing trust within the community members and the local SAPS should be rebuilding. This empirical research paper recommends that Namakgale community, local SAPS and other relevant stakeholders should clearly understand the Modus Operandi (MO) used in the commission of this ordeal crime. The understanding of the MO would serve as a detail-rich information and subsequently influence strategies, on how to effectively respond to this crime.

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

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!

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

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.

SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE CAPACITY TO RESPOND TO CYBERCRIME: CHALLENGES AND POTENTIALS

The growing threat of cybercrime poses significant challenges for police organizations. Due to the sophisticated methods used to commit cybercrime, the implementation and investigation of cybercrime have become more demanding and time-consuming. For the police to successfully investigate and punish acts of crime, it is necessary to know and understand the operations of the perpetrators. A qualitative research approach utilizing purposive sampling was adopted to explore the capacity of policing cybercrime in the study area. The findings collected through semi-structured interviews with eight key informants comprising of South African Police Service (SAPS) Crime Intelligence Unit officials suggest that there is a limited cybercrime investigative expertise within the specialized investigation units, coupled with the cyber-elements that are part of almost every traditional crime investigation today, has caused a significant increase in the workload of cybercrime investigative units. The study also found a lack of corporation amongst relevant role-players to boost internal cybercrime investigative resources, resulting in capacity challenges in keeping up with the workload. In addition, as the study showed, the lack of a clear legal framework makes it difficult to investigate and prosecute crimes committed with the Internet, as the authorities are forced to rely on the Criminal Procedure Law. The recommendations are presented as a potential step to developing educational packages and awareness programs to provide at-risk groups with effective mechanisms to protect themselves from cybercrime.

An Analysis of Public Order Policing in the Gauteng Province, South Africa

Background: Public order policing (POP) has attracted considerable interest from the academic community due to public protests in South Africa. This is not surprising given that it represents an important component of police work. As South Africa’s democracy has been maturing, the democratic dispensation brought the promise of civil liberties and a human rights culture. Although these parallel developments brought prospects of accountability and legitimacy by the South African Police Service (SAPS), the restoration of public order, especially during public protests, has remained a challenge for the SAPS. Purpose: The objectives of this research were threefold: to explore the role of the POP unit; to explore its capacity to respond to public protests; and to determine the effectiveness of the integrated interventions of the relevant stakeholders to restore engagement and order. Methods: A qualitative research approach employing semi-structured interviews was utilised. To understand the policing of public protests, purposeful sampling was utilised to select 25 participants comprising community members, municipal officials, and POP members. These participants were selected since they are directly involved either in responding to public order or being part of protests, and it was therefore envisaged that their contribution would assist in understanding how protests are responded to. Conclusion: The findings indicate that when the POP units that are mandated to fulfil these goals are not effective, disruptions of public order are minimised and the destructive consequences of those that do occur are contained. The results illustrate that the restoration of public order necessitates regenerating public order characterised by low expectations of violence and a heightened respect for human rights. Recommendations: This article recommends that the relevant stakeholders in collaboration with the POP unit must respond adequately to the maintenance of safety and security during protests. The relevant stakeholders and the POP unit should enhance the effectiveness of the current strategies to be able to deal with anticipated public violence and disorder, improvement of the intelligence-gathering process to plan properly, adequate and proper training facilities, reviewing and updating of training manuals, and methods based on lessons learned and best practices to ensure that the training is relevant. POP members must undergo regular training and in-service training to maintain their fitness levels, standards, proficiency, and competencies.

Perspectives on Stock Theft Prevention in the Selected Provinces of South Africa: Failures and Successes

Residents of Limpopo (LIM) and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province are witnessing higher rates of stock theft, with the inhabitants of the selected communities living in fear for the prevention of this scourge. This study explores the extent of this crime in the selected areas of LIM and KZN, considering contributory factors, determining the relationship between the South African Police Service Stock Theft Units (SAPS STUs) and other relevant stakeholders, as well as looking at existing strategies (And their failures and successes) in responding to this crime effectively. A qualitative research approach coupled with Non-probability: Purposive sampling was used in this study. The targeted population consisted of 113 participants. For data collections, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), and Observation Schedules were adopted. lack of appropriate preventative measures has led to rise of stock theft, it was, therefore, discovered that both the affected livestock farmers and members of the community lost confidence toward the police, Besides, the perspectives on stock theft prevention in LIM and KZN reflect a greater challenge, with inadequate solutions present, since the current preventative measures are ineffective. Thus, understanding stock theft phenomenon is critical to its prevention as the sector of livestock in South Africa is the contributory key to the value of the agricultural economy.

'Black like Me': A Critical Analysis of Arrest Practices Based on Skin Color in the Gauteng Province, South Africa

Objective: This article looks at the everyday life and realities of current practices employed by the South African Police Service (SAPS) officials, by shedding light on the experiences and practices on profiling search and effecting arrest based on race and skin color in the Gauteng Province. Particularly, this article examines the experiences of the SAPS officials to measure police perception of the skin color of foreign nationals, and to establish if wrongful arrests were linked to skin color stereotyping. Methods: The theoretical approach employed the social identity theory (SIT) was used to interpret the results. A survey questionnaire consisting of the New Immigration Survey (NIS) Skin Color Scale with 10 shades of skin color mapped to a pictorial guide, as well as a self-report measure on wrongful arrests, was administered to 80 SAPS officials, who performed visible policing duties. The research sample consisted of two SAPS groups from two different contexts, namely township and urban contexts. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to conduct Pearson's correlation and comparative analyses. Results: The results showed that the SAPS officials stereotyped foreign nationals as dark-skinned. The skin color stereotype was, however, not correlated to wrongful arrests. The study concluded that although respondents perceived that South Africans were distinguishable from foreign nationals based on skin color or tone, identification processes were not influenced by this stereotype belief.

Exploring the role of a total rewards strategy in retaining South African police officers in Limpopo province

Orientation: The South African Police Service is facing significant challenges in retaining its staff. A total rewards strategy could help the South African Police Service to enhance staff retention.Research purpose: This study explored the role of a total rewards strategy in retaining South African police officers in Limpopo province.Motivation of the study: The shortage of police officials has a negative effect on the South African Police Service’s endeavours to retain its employees.Research approach, design and method: This was a qualitative research study where semi-structured interviews were conducted on the sample size of 14 police officers in Limpopo.Main findings: The outcomes revealed that performance management, career development and employees’ compensation were ineffectively applied to police stations. Employees were firmly thinking about leaving the police because of poor rewards. The members were genuinely happy with their work benefits and work–life balance.Practical/managerial implications: The South African Police Services should implement total reward strategy to improve staff retention.Contribution/value-add: This study presented challenging areas in the reward framework of the South African Police Service employees and the subsequent impact thereof on their turnover intentions.

Understanding the interior design of selected SAPS stations in Durban with specific reference to User Centred Design

This study investigated and sought to understand the extent and role of user-centred interior design of South African Police Service (SAPS) stations in Durban. The assumption of this study was that the design of a SAPS station that considers the most vulnerable would benefit the other users of the SAPS station. Therefore, the persona of User Centred Design would be the client who had reported a crime. This study aimed to understand the clients’ perspective on the SAPS police station, as the proposed outcome would be to make User Centred Design decisions based on the clients’ perspectives and experiences, because the client persona of the SAPS station would be traumatised. The objective of this study was to review literature on User Centred Design, Sensory Processing, Post Traumatic Stress, Acute Stress Disorder and literature on South African police stations. As well as conduct field work by interviewing clients that have reported crimes to the SAPS station and to also to conduct interviews with South African Police Service officers. Hermeneutic phenomenology was utilised to understand the perspective and experience of the SAPS client. The notion of the double hermeneutic was the main tool and basis of understanding. The first half of the double hermeneutic was the context of the SAPS station. The context of the SAPS station was understood by the hermeneutic circle, in which the whole of the context was understood by its parts, which gave a greater understanding of the whole. The parts of the context were SAPS literature, six interviews of SAPS officers and observing three Durban SAPS stations. The second half of the double hermeneutic was understanding the client persona. This was done again with the use of the hermeneutic circle, where the parts of the client persona were the nine interviews of participants who had been to report crimes to the SAPS station, the literature on trauma and a brief background description of the participant. The two halves of the double hermeneutic were reflexively brought together using User Centred Design themes. These themes informed the User Centred Design needs of the SAPS client. It was found that the current SAPS stations do not meet the User Centred Design needs of the client; that this resulted in the client projecting their trauma onto the station and allowed for the client to judge the SAPS officer negatively before the client engaged with the officer. The main needs of the client are to feel safe and secure, to have privacy, to have a welcoming and friendly SAPS station atmosphere and to have clear directions. A disconnect between SAPS officer and SAPS client, which reinforced the notion of unmet expectations, was the result of these unmet basic needs. Therefore, the recommendation of this study is that the interior of SAPS stations should be considered in terms of user centred design in order to fully grapple with the needs of the SAPS client