The wolf guarding the sheep
JOBURG – ‘There is extensive evidence of police involvement in serious and violent crimes such as rape, murder, and armed robbery’, this is according to the ‘Broken Blue Line’, a research project undertaken by the International Relations Research Student Association (IRR) since 2011 to track police involvement in criminality.
The project, Broken Blue Line was commissioned by the International Relations Research Student Association and AfriForum, and has tracked police involvement in criminality since 2011. The association’s CEO Frans Cronje said the project was one of the most disturbing ever undertaken by his organisation, “You would expect the police to safeguard society by infiltrating criminal elements,” he said. “In our country there is much evidence that criminal elements have infiltrated the police.”
Among the findings it was found that the police may be heavily infiltrated by criminal elements. Police officers exploited their official status and equipment to perpetrate crimes, and relied on that status to escape arrest and prosecution. It was often with good reason that the public feared the police, especially regarding sexual violence and rape perpetrated by police officers against vulnerable women.
It was likely that the poor and the middle class would increasingly bypass the police and look for other means of safeguarding themselves and their communities.
Cronje said he hoped the findings would help build support for policy solutions to better protect the lives and livelihoods of all South Africans. He added that the report also recommended a number of policy interventions to the police commissioner including the de-politicising of the appointment process within the police.
Details: https://irr.org.za/reports-and-publications/occasional-reports/broken-blue-line-2
