INSIGHT | Police corruption, criminality put SA citizens at risk

If the latest police crime statistics are anything to go by, it should be clear to most of us that a chaotic police and crime intelligence service cannot fulfil its mandate of adequately addressing crime in the country.

The much-publicised recent debacle regarding the suspension of Lt-Gen Peter Jacobs, the former head of crime intelligence, is the latest in a slew of events involving the police and crime intelligence that has left the SA public both confused and justifiably concerned.

And once again, seemingly at the heart of this latest controversy, is corruption within the police  and the crime intelligence unit.

Jacobs, along with five other colleagues, was suspended at the end of 2020 amid allegations of corruption, specifically the irregular procurement of personal protective equipment involving the use of a secret service account.

However, from Jacobs’ perspective, there was evidence that police and crime intelligence officials had abused the account. Some within the police believed that Jacobs was deliberately targeted because he was exposing the looting of the secret account.

After challenging his suspension in the labour court, Jacobs was seemingly vindicated, with the court lifting the suspension. In response however, national police commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole officially transferred Jacobs out of his position as head of crime intelligence to division inspectorate, which, for all intents and purposes, is seen by some officers as a demotion.

Going back just a few months, we recall the same Sitole  firing his deputy, Bonang Mgwenya, who was accused of a string of criminal activities including fraud, corruption, money laundering and theft.

Corruption and criminality in the highest ranks of the police, whether proven or alleged, have two very serious consequences, both of which have a serious effect on the safety and security of South African citizens.

The first consequence is the trickle-down effect of police corruption and criminality from the top structures to the bottom.

In an SABC news report in February 2021, Corruption Watch reported it had received numerous allegations of police corruption from whistle-blowers. Offences included everything from bribery to sextortion.

So pervasive is police corruption that Corruption Watch has gone as far as creating a web-based tool, Veza, which allows the public to report any corruption or misconduct by police members.

To drive the point home further, a 2019 report by Corruption Watch found that police were the most corrupt of all SA public servants, having overtaken the sectors of health and local government. These few examples illustrate the trickle-down effect of corruption and criminality in the police from the highest levels.

The second serious consequence, and the one that affects the public directly, is the inevitable skyrocketing of crime levels.

Looking at the latest police crime stats, it is clear lockdown policing strategies have not been effective. If we take a look at just one example of violent crime, gang-related violence, gang shootings and related violence not only continued but increased despite “stricter” policing during the lockdown.

How does police corruption factor into this? In September 2020, the SAPS anti-gang unit section head, Lt-Col Charl Kinnear, was killed outside his home in Cape Town. Kinnear was apparently investigating a firearms licensing scandal that implicated senior police officers and underworld figures. Ongoing corruption at the central firearms registry enables the issuing of gun licences to suspected gang members.

So, all the while on our television screens and newspaper pages senior police officials tell us they are doing everything they can to curb violent crime, we are confronted with serious police criminality and corruption of this magnitude.

The end result is a serious threat to the safety and security of citizens.

What can be done about this state of affairs in the police? The most critical thing is to take a good hard look at police culture in SA.

In an anthropological sense, culture can be understood as a complex system, involving both ideological and material aspects that influence the way in which things are done by members of that culture.

All organisations and institutions have their own culture, which is why we often hear of the term "organisational culture", or "institutional culture".

The ideological aspects that underpin a culture include things like value systems, beliefs, and attitudes. These in turn influence perceptions of acceptable versus unacceptable behaviour.

If we put this in context in police culture, it seems that corruption and criminality are regarded as acceptable by many within the institution, sadly even at the highest levels.

These values then have an effect on the subsequent behaviour of police officials at various levels of the organisation, and those who do not conform are ostracised, targeted and, in extreme cases, even killed.

If we are to transform the current police culture, it has to start with transforming the underlying negative values, attitudes and beliefs that seem to influence the current problems.

To achieve meaningful cultural change within the police, we need to start with the leadership. This is another discussion altogether, because it involves both the political leadership and the senior police  leadership.

At the moment, both are ill-equipped to lead cultural change within the police.

We need to get the leadership right before we can even think of transforming the culture of corruption and criminality throughout the rest of the police services.

Prof Theodore Petrus is a member of the anthropology department at Free State University