6.2 Conclusion in Terms of the Findings of the Study
6.2.2 Factors contributing to police torture and assault
and Berger, 2009); (ii) that torture will gradually become a ritual and, once it functions as a ritual, then legal definitions aimed at official state policies and goals will remain inadequate (Parry, 2003). If the problem of torture and assault as well as holding perpetrators accountable for their criminal behaviour is left unchecked, it will reach a point where it will be difficult to eradicate the problem or deal with its repercussions.
6.2.2 Factors contributing to police torture and assault
Police raids and stop-and-search operations give effect to torture and assault. This was explained by emphasis on the public’s lack of understanding of police procedures during these operations. It was conversed that police officers conduct raids when they have identified an area where there is a high rate of crime and, in most cases, when they were alerted by the members of the community that crime was rife in that area. This partnership between the police and the community in identifying problems within the community has had an adverse effect on police operational procedures, because police officers turn these investigations into volatile raids by using torture and assault to force community members to hand in their firearms or drugs or to provide evidence. Balko (2006) states that, during police raids, it is not only the suspects who are subjected to unnecessary pain, but even the people who are not involved in that situation.
Because members of the public are not aware of the rules and procedures that guide official raids and stop-and-search operations, their attitude is often uncooperative and provocative and they then become victims of assault, as the police are pressured to achieve targets and thus do not tolerate any resistance. However, regardless of the public’s ignorance of police procedures, the manner in which the police respond to the public is the main problem that results in torture and assault. This suggests that the lack of knowledge of police procedures is defined by the police as provoking them, and therefore violence erupts when the public responds with statements such as, ‘You do not have a warrant to search me’. Police raids and stop-and-search practices thus create a platform for police officers to torture and assault the public.
Another contributing factor that was identified and that related to the above finding was that the public would provoke the police. Scholars such as Phillips and Smith (2000) and Harris (2009) found that members of the public provoked the police by disobeying their instructions,
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often in a disrespectful and challenging manner. These findings were corroborated by this study, as the respondents admitted that members of the public often reacted violently towards the police as they disrespected them, swore at them and often pelted them with stones, particularly during strikes. However, the findings suggest that it is the police who instigate acts of torture and assault by using excessive force to restrain and extract information from suspects.
It was noteworthy that some of the IPID investigating officers took the stance that no person is to be subjected to any form of violence at the hands of the police, irrespective of whether the suspect was disrespectful towards the police or provoked the police in any way, as they did not consider provocative behaviour by the public in their investigations.
The IPID investigating officers had some suggestion for the causes of the increasing number of cases of torture and assault. One suggestion was that the perpetuation of torture and assault was rooted in the lack of comprehensive training to equip members of the SAPS with skills and strategies in dealing with challenges such as suspects’ lack of compliance and dealing with them in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act No. 51 of 1977, section 49 (2). It was revealed that their training was lacking in two areas, namely interviewing skills and a legal approach to restraining a suspect. It was also revealed that the absence of an appropriate approach to certain crime situations resulted in the adoption of illegal methods of restraining and arresting as well as in banned methods of interrogating that are against the law and a violation of the human rights of suspects. It was perceived that there are gaps in the police training curriculum which has resulted in the police not being fully equipped to deal with suspect when they are conducting raids or stop-and-search operations.
Additionally, management’s pressure on the police to meet projected targets for the retrieval of illegal weapons and drugs was identified to be another contributing factor to torture and assault of suspects. The IPID investigating officers indicated that if the police did not meet the projected targets, then they accused of not doing their job. It is alarming when considering the effect of such pressure on the police as well as on the public. For instance, due to the pressure to meet projected targets, police officers rely on illegal methods of operating such as aggression, beatings, strangulation, suffocation, and slapping and kicking to coerce suspects to hand over illegal weapons or drugs. Such actions cannot be condoned under any circumstances, because there are other more appropriate and legitimate methods that the police can apply to ensure that members of the public cooperate in crime prevention. In essence, the pressure on police officers to meet targets gives context to the problem of torture and assault. This notion
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is a matter of concern because it suggests that the effectiveness of the police service is measured by the number of the retrieved weapons or drugs, and whether their operational mandate equates to a projected statistical target each year. In this context, the national goal of a community policing service is marginalised and even completely ignored. Another disturbing finding was that the pressure to meet targets often resulted in police officers forcing suspects to admit they had what the police were looking for, even when they didn’t. Such intimidation of ‘suspects’ is illegal and violates human rights.
It was thus evident that factors that contribute to police torture and assault range from lack of training and pressure by management to meet targets, to raids and stop-and-search operations.
The argument that suspects and even the general public are uncooperative and provocative and often ‘deserve’ to be manhandled by the police must be rejected, as the legal framework that governs police procedures and behaviour adamantly protects the basic human rights of all citizens. Figure 6.2 below illustrates the problems related to the contributory factors that influence police torture and assault as they emerged from the data.
Figure 6.2: Illustration of the causes of torture and assault in the SAPS organization
Source: Researcher’s illustration
United Nations (2002:12) explains that “torture may be the consequence of factors which the Government has difficulty in controlling, and its existence may indicate a discrepancy between policy as determined by the central Government and its implementation by the local administration”. It may thus be concluded that difficulties are experienced in controlling police behaviour in the field, as their behaviour is entrenched in a traditional police culture that
Influx of incidences of police torture and assault
Pressure from management to meet
the projected target of retrieved weapons Conducting raids
and stop-and-search operations Lack of police training
that impacts challeneges in the occupational setting
Police rely on the trditional
methods of operating such
as torture and assault.
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embraces violence and control and results in inconsistencies with the Criminal Procedure Act No. 51 of 1977, section 49 (2). This culture has a negative effect the professionalisation and demilitarisation of the police, as it undermines the democratic policing principles that govern the desired policing style in South Africa. Moreover, a police ‘brotherhood’ that is often supported at the highest levels often underpins police officers’ disregard for the legislations that argue against torture and assault and seek to protect the public against the misuse of authority and power by the police. Most importantly, entrenched police attitudes and behaviour result in the persistence of torture and assault of members of the public by police officers.
UNODC (2011) indicates that most of the problems that are experienced within police services internationally are due to failure to find a balance between serving the state, serving the public and being professional in the execution of their duties. It can be argued that to some extent, UNODC’s argument is true, because police torture and assault are the outcomes of the challenges experienced by the police with regards to finding this balance, particularly in terms of finding a balance between:
serving the State or an organisation that expects its officials to meet statistical targets without regard for the realities on the ground. A state that grants its police force permission to use force but scrutinises them in terms of how they do their work and exercise their power, and then holds them accountable for any errors during the execution of their duties, is waiting for a disaster to happen. In the South African context this disaster happened in the highly publicised events that occurred at Marikana on 16 August 2012 (Marinovich, 2012).
serving the public with its potentially varying community needs and high levels of violence. This paradoxical position poses a potential danger to the police, as violence breeds violence and defiance of authority has become entrenched in many South African societies as a legacy of its volatile past;
being professional while having to deal with violence-ridden communities that generally mistrust and disrespect the police. It is in such communities that they have to forge police-community bonds while maintaining order and preventing crime.
The failure to balance their role in such paradoxical circumstances has left the gap wide open for the preservation of unwarranted operational methods such as torture and assault. Clearly, the findings suggest that many members of the police force in this country are torn between their mandate to fulfil their duties within a human right legal framework, and maintaining order
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and enforcing the law under the threat of meeting targets and dealing with uncooperative and violence-ridden communities whose only means of survival are often vested in criminal activities.