Police Brutality in Post-Apartheid South Africa Reviewed

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to revisit the issue of police brutality in post-apartheid South Africa, since it has recently become a highly contextual topic with polarising views. Some individuals have tried to justify the level of brutality by the South African Police Service, while others disagree with these views and perceive the issue as problematic. Apart from the literature review, questionnaires where formulated distributed to twenty individuals from the general public, in order to ascertain their perception regarding the issue. This questionnaire was structured in a way that would allow the individuals to not only state their opinion regarding the different aspects of the South African Police Service but to also enable the respondent to elaborate on their reasoning. The finding from the feedback obtained from ten respondents reveal that police brutality is perceived as a major problem in South Africa, and most individuals are perturb by the current state of affairs. However, they feel very helpless in their ability to change the situation. Some respondents feel that it is only people in top positions in the police hierarchy or government that could influence the change that is required to improve the situation, in order to enhance the image of the South African Police Services, in such a way that communities could perceive them more as friends rather than enemies.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n3p574