Police Militarisation and its Implications for Policing and Crime Prevention in South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore police militarisation, specifically in South Africa and its South African Police Service (SAPS) since their remilitarisation in 2010. The study utilises Peter Kraska's militarisation continuum as the framework to assess how the SAPS have, or have not, militarised since 2010. To conduct this research, this study is designed as an exploratory approach that utilises a case study, document and literature analysis, and secondary data set analysis as its methodologies. The findings reveal evidence of further militarisation of the SAPS according to the operational, organisational, and cultural indicators of Kraska's militarisation continuum. The findings of further militarisation, according to these indicators, include incongruity between South African government documents and what is put in practice regarding police militarisation and community policing; new and re-established paramilitary units; a weakened stance on the SAPS' use of lethal force and of the capabilities of independent oversight bodies; and an evolving strategy towards repeated, national-scale high-density militarised operations by the SAPS. These findings of further militarisation are accompanied by evidence of less militarisation according to the fourth metric of Kraska's continuum, the material...