IRR crime analyst Kerwin Lebone said: “The police’s primary role in the pre-1994 era was regarded as that of defending the government of the day and police were thus a legitimate target for political attacks.” He added that it was a concern that such a significant proportion (46%) were killed while attending to a complaint.
Despite the huge drop in police murders‚ South Africa remains a relatively dangerous country in which to conduct police work.
Lebone cited the comparative incidence of police murders in countries that kept records – such as the United Kingdom (less than four murders per year)‚ Germany (six per year)‚ and France (five per year) – which were far below South Africa’s rate. Even the United States reported only 50 police murders per year – a modest figure in contrast‚ particularly given that the population of the United States far exceeded South Africa’s.
The IRR surmises that police murders fell as:
- Overall levels of murder fell‚
- Private security took over the first responder role in many areas‚ and
- Communities increasingly came to catch their own criminals and hand these over to the police.
The South African Police Service remains concerned at the number of its officers killed. In March this year‚ the SAPS stated that in the 2016/17 financial year‚ 57 police officers lost their lives. Thirty one of them were killed while on duty.