“I’M not against the police, I’m just afraid of them.” So said that great purveyor of fear, Alfred Hitchcock, expressing a sentiment that many South Africans (who know a thing or two about fear) might be familiar with.
The ‘accidental’ shooting of local rapper Khuli Chana by police officers who mistook him for a kidnapper on Monday is scary enough, but when this story is read against the backdrop of a history of excessive violence from our men and women in blue, it becomes downright sinister.
News reports claim police pumped bullets into Chana’s car after he tried to drive away when they tried to stop him in an unmarked vehicle. Considering that six shots were fired and he only suffered a minor wound on his hand, Chana was extremely lucky to escape with his life.
Not so lucky were Jeanette Odendaal, Leanne Douglas and Moeketsi Mafabe who all died this year as a result of alleged excessive and reckless force from police officers.
The use of force, including deadly force, is governed by Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act. In terms of this section, the police can only use force when their lives or lives of others are directly threatened.
They can also use deadly force if they believe a person they are about to arrest is armed and threatens serious body injury. In the absence of these conditions, it’s criminal for police to execute deadly force – including shooting at suspects.
The use of excessive force by law enforcement has become a delicate, emotional subject given the high levels of violent crime that police have to deal with daily.
Everyday officers put their lives on the line in an effort to protect the rest of us from violent criminals, but what are we to do when the criminals look like the police, or worse, are the police?-
Earlier this month SAPS announced they are investigating police involvement in criminal acts perpetrated by gangs masquerading as police officers.
They suspected that some police officers are actually participating in illegal activities while others collude with the criminals by supplying them with police uniforms and firearms.
Given the rate of robberies and hijack incidents involving bogus blue light vehicles, its considered unsafe to just pull over in the middle of nowhere.
So what do you do when you find yourself driving alone one evening and a police vehicle tries to pull you over? Do you stop immediately and hope against hope that it’s the actual police and not just criminals posing as the police? Or do you keep driving to the nearest police station as it’s been suggested and pray that if it is the actual police they’re not of the trigger-happy variety?
Incidents like the ones involving Khuli Chana are much too common and they play no small part in eroding our trust and denting the credibility of our police service.
While there may be countless positive stories out there about police providing great service, they are not the ones that stick out in our minds; that honour is held by an ever-present dark cloud of corruption and excessive violence.
The latest annual report from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), released at the beginning of October, shows that deaths “as a result of police action in 2012-13 were down 12 per cent compared to the previous year, but deaths in custody were up 19 per cent.
It also reported that there were 4,181 cases of torture or assault, of which 50 were torture. The IPID said most of the torture cases were beatings, followed by six cases of suffocation with a bag or a tube. There was one case of torture by applying electrical shocks. –
Given the situation, who wouldn’t be afraid of the police?
