Abstract
In South Africa, media and scholarly research has increasingly drawn into question the correctness of police responses to post-1994 popular protest. Assessments of democratic policing, moreover, emphasise the critical role of the police in democratic development. Existing accounts of protest, however, seldom draw upon the assessments of individual police members. In an attempt to understand the challenges to democratic policing and the dynamics and complexities of protest, this article examines protest from the perspective of rank and file officers in the South African Police Service (SAPS). It shows, not only the importance of recognising bottom-up perspectives in constructing appropriate responses to protest, but the complexity of SAPS members’ own identities as both officers and citizens. Reports of police action indicate the sometimes unwarranted and disproportional use force. Yet, simultaneously, for many officers, protest seems to straddle their police and private lives, conferring on them a duty to enforce law and order, while experiencing the shortcomings of democracy themselves.
Highlights
Clashes between police and communities, the killing of striking mineworkers by police at Marikana in 2012, and the collision of police and students in the #FeesMustFall protests on South African university campuses in 2015–16,8 have shed light, on the use of force and repressive action in maintaining public order, but on the continued lack of police legitimacy in the eyes of many South Africans.[9]
In an attempt to understand some of the challenges to democratic policing, this article examines protest from the perspective of rank and file officers in the South African Police Service (SAPS)
Through individual interviews with SAPS officers, this article examines protest from a police perspective, interrogating how individual officers charged with protecting communities and preserving law and order perceive the exercise of popular protest
Summary
In South Africa, media and scholarly research has increasingly drawn into question the correctness of police responses to post-1994 popular protest. In an attempt to understand some of the challenges to democratic policing, this article examines protest from the perspective of rank and file officers in the South African Police Service (SAPS) It shows, the importance of recognising bottomup perspectives in constructing appropriate responses to protest, but the complexity of SAPS members’ own identities as both officers and citizens. Research into the policing of post-1994 protest has stimulated important dialogue, among social scientists and the academic community, but between the SAPS and civilian oversight structures seeking ways to improve democratic policing These interactions provide important opportunities for holding the SAPS to account and for establishing measures to assess police conduct.[12] beyond the statements of senior officials and SAPS spokespeople, we know a very limited amount about protest from a police perspective. While officers view protest as a democratic right, many are torn between their sympathy for the plight of fellow citizens and their own ascribed duties to enforce law and order and ensure community safety
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