NCJ Number
95533
Date Published
1982
Length
263 pages
Annotation
This overview text on policing in South Africa covers police history, legal restrictions, the external occupational environment, organization, police-community relations, crime prevention, and investigative procedures.
Abstract
This book is the first scientific publication on police science to appear in South Africa and is used in criminal justice courses by the University of South Africa. Following a general discussion of the police role in society, the text traces the development of police agencies in England and South Africa. It then describes restrictions on police powers, with attention to individual rights, arrest authority, search and seizure, and questioning. The discussion of the external environment in which police must work concludes that it has a negative effect on both police and the public so that both feel misunderstood. Policing style, the bureaucracy, and police morale are addressed in a review of organizational issues. The text advocates partnership between the police and the community as a prerequisite for combating crime and disorder, exploring police stereotypes, public relations, police training, and the media in this context. The chapter on crime prevention considers programs for juveniles at risk and ex-offenders as well as eliminating opportunities for crime through security measures and police patrol. The text also reviews the principles of crime investigation, identification categories, direct evidence, questioning, and physical evidence. The final chapter focuses on special policing problems involved in traffic control and crowd control. Approximately 180 references and an index are supplied.