ISS Seminar, Pretoria: The Paradox of Measuring Police Performance

Date: 2010-04-07

Venue: ISS Conference Room Block C, Brooklyn Court 361 Veale Street New Muckleneuk (Parking in Brooklyn Mall and ABSA court)

RSVP: Millicent Mlaba
Tel: (012) 346 9500
Fax: (012) 460 0997/ 086 508 1660
E-mail: [email protected]

Presented by the Crime and Justice Programme, Pretoria

Police performance in South Africa has largely been measured on whether crime statistics are increasing or decreasing. The police are considered to be performing well when the crime statistics decrease, and poorly when they increase. The police use a number of other indicators to assess performance, such as the number of arrests made. In this seminar the speakers will examine the effect of using such statistics on the reliability of the violent crime statistics and on the quality of policing.  This seminar will also launch the March edition of SA Crime Quarterly that contains articles on these issues.

SPEAKERS:

David Bruce, Senior Researcher, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation: “Can we rely on current violent crime statistics?”

Andrew Faull, Researcher, Institute for Security Studies: “Missing the target: When measuring performance undermines police effectiveness”.

RESPONDENT: Themba Masuku, Research Manager, Community Agency for Social Enquiry

Please note that discussions occur under ISS rules