30 Oct 2008: ISS Today: Public Order Policing and the French Connection
30 October 2008: Public Order Policing and the French Connection
When the South African Police Service (SAPS) underwent a transformation process after South Africa’s transition to democracy in the mid 90s, part of the process entailed bringing the SAPS in line with international policing standards. Substantial financial, as well as technical assistance was made available from several countries, including Belgium. This helped in developing a restructuring strategy for the SAPS, notably its public order police component.
More than a decade later, international assistance, in the form of training from the French gendarmerie and the French Police, is once again being employed to train public order members of the SAPS. The aim of the exercise is to provide every public order member in the country with the French-style training in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The SAPS have thus far been successful in the management of public disorder incidents, the Rugby and Cricket World Cups and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The dynamics of soccer matches as well as supporters of the sport, however, require a different technique of policing. The French method is suitable in this instance because of the intensive approach, as well as the vast experience the French have in policing large-scale operations.
The SAPS are to be commended for undertaking such a bold and ambitious initiative. With only 588 days before kick-off to the FIFA World Cup, the training may however be too little too late - unless the following measures are promptly addressed.
Since 2006 the SAPS have again underwent a massive restructuring process that has seen the public order function being diminished to half its human resource capacity. The remaining members were redeployed to police stations as part of the SAPS plan to strengthen the fight against crime and improve service delivery at local level. Low morale, poor team spirit and work overload are some of the consequences of the restructuring process.
The xenophobia attacks of March 2008 have seen the units` capability being tested to its full strength – with the units facing great challenges in quelling the violence. Since the attacks, and with the realisation that the units are not able to perform optimally with a minimal capacity, members have in some provinces been recalled to the units to take up public order duties. The SAPS management should ensure companies, platoons and sections are operating at full capacity, as does the French police if the French training is to succeed. With a population of 62 million, the public order component of France operates with a total of 32 000 members.
The other challenge for SAPS management will be to ensure that curriculum development for the training is fast-tracked so that training can proceed swiftly. In this instance, the Confederations Cup in 2009 should be the SAPS’ benchmark in preparation for the 2010 soccer event. At least 50% of the public order component should have received the training by this time.
Additionally, current policies and instructions need revision and adaptation to the new training. More importantly, cooperation between the divisions responsible for training, logistics and policy-making is vital to ensure a swift and realisable outcome. Working in silos will only serve to delay the process.
In-service training at most public order units has been passed over for crime prevention priorities and the reduction of crime statistics. Specialist skills like public order require members working together as a cohesive unit, continuous rigorous training, and strict discipline. Adopting a different technique for public disorder will mean that in-service training has to be maintained.
French-type riot policing would necessitate equipping members with French-style riot gear in order to be effective. The French gear consists of full body armour and provides full body protection – unlike body gear being utilised by the SAPS public order members. Given the increase in incidences of protest marches, and more importantly the increase in the intensity of violent protest marches (see table below), the SAPS must consider the upgrading of body armour.
Figure: Total violent and peaceful crowd management incidents, 1997–2005
The provision of relevant equipment will also have to be given due priority if the French method is adopted. One of the tools utilised by the French police for effective policing of public disorder is tear gas. After the Ellis Park soccer disaster in 2002, in which 43 supporters died and 158 were injured, a commission of inquiry found that of 14 reasons listed for the tragedy, a gaseous irritant teargas used by the police was one of the causes for the disaster. Since then the use of tear gas has been prohibited by the SAPS although policy does not reflect this. The concentration of the tear gas utilised by the French police is of a lower strength than was previously used by the SAPS, and if sanctioned, intensive training on its usage is required.
The management of public disorder has since the mid 1990s assumed a more restrained approach taking into account human rights. Adoption of the French approach must ensure that this right is still accorded to citizens and violations do not recur.
Bilkis Omar, Researcher in the Crime, Justice and Politics Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)
