South Africans have become accustomed to media reports alleging the involvement of policemen or ‘people dressed in police uniforms’ in serious crimes. The South African Institute of Race Relations and its Unit for Risk Analysis have become increasingly concerned at the number and nature of these reports. To try and determine the scale of the problem, the Institute assigned a researcher to source as much information as possible on the involvement of police officers in committing crime.
The results were alarming. The Institute consulted journalists, media
reports, and information from the Independent Complaints Directorate
(ICD) . Within a week, a list of over 100 separate incidents alleging
and/or confirming the police’s involvement in serious crimes was drawn
up.
The Institute’s researchers stopped looking for more incidents after
compiling this list of the initial 100. The 100 incidents do not include
reports of petty crimes, poor service delivery, or the soliciting of
small bribes by officials. Without exception, the 100 incidents
identified in this report are related to very serious and often violent
and pre-mediated criminal behaviour. These included ATM bombings, armed
robberies, house robberies, rapes, murders, and serious assaults.