When good policemen become criminals

Jacana Media Publishers has published a book on police corruption in South Africa.

The Auckland Park-based publishers believe that 2013 sees the prevalence of police corruption in the country reaching an all-time high. The publisher’s Neilwe Mashigo said the real truth on police corruption was hard to come by, since corrupt activities tend to happen in secret. “Police organisations have little incentive to publish information about corruption,” she said.

In an attempt to uncover the secrecy, Cape Town-based consulting criminologist Dr Liza Grobler wrote a 280 page non-fiction book titled ‘Crossing the Line: When Cops Become Criminals’. Grobler said the book was based on her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree studies on police criminality and had been re-worked and updated in order to make it less academic and more accessible to the general public.

Grobler’s inspiration came from her 10 years of research on police corruption and criminality for her PhD studies in 2003. “When I was offered an opportunity to publish, I did not hesitate because I have always felt the public is drip fed by the media on police criminality. The book explores the phenomenon in detail with illustrations and analysis.”

According to the 51-year-old, working with an editor, it took her six months to write the book. Grobler works with the Department of Correctional Services and their parole boards doing risk assessments. She has also written articles for Cape-based newspapers.

Details: www.jacana.co.za