Pretoria – Nearly 7 000 cases of police brutality were reported in the year 2012/2013, with 4 000 of those cases related to assault or the excessive use of force by police members while on duty, according to the Institute of Security Studies (ISS)
The death of three protesters in the North West this week has put the spotlight back on the scourge of police brutality and criminality in South Africa which, according to the ISS, has increased by 300% since 2002.
While senior researcher in the crime and justice programme, Johan Burger advises the public to take those very high figures with a pinch of salt, considering the many false accusations against police by criminals trying to avoid conviction, he does warn of the serious problem of, not only police brutality but criminality, in the service.
He said other problems within the South African Police Service (SAPS) include high incidents of rape, attempted murder, corruption and the high rate of mortality of individuals in police custody.
Burger echoed calls made by the Democratic Alliance for government to establish a judicial commission of inquiry into criminal activity by police.
“To only investigate police brutality is scratching the surface, we are saying we need a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the police to determine why we have these problems and what can be done to address them,” he said.
According to Burger, the current measures in place to curb police criminality, including the establishment of police watchdog body, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, are helpful but not adequate.
“We would like to see such a commission of inquiry carrying out a deeper analysis of what is wrong in the police service, why it is wrong and how we can fix it,” he said.
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