Implanting Community Policing in South Africa: A Failure of History, of Context, and of Theory

Abstract

The globalisation of policing is not anew phenomenon. The British colonial police are a much older example of that process. But in recent years, policing has come to be `sold' to `transitional' and to `failed' state in a cumulative fashion. The most obvious export by the West in the present day is that of Community-Oriented Policing. However, much of that export drive has been accompanied by a failure of the salespeople to recognize that community policing only works in societies with particular histories and in particular social context. The paper examined the implantation of community policing in South Africa and its failure to take root. An appropriate lesson is drawn.