Professionalism and the South African Police Service: What is it and how can it help build safer communities?

This paper explores developments in the concept of police professionalism that have emerged in South Africa in recent years.

This paper explores developments in the concept of police professionalism that have emerged in South Africa in recent years. It considers professionalism in relation to comparable historical and contemporary developments in the US and UK, and consolidates the different ways in which these are currently manifesting in South Africa. Adding to the current discourse, it suggests that a professional South African Police Service (SAPS) should include a clearly defined, minimalist mandate.

About the authors

Andrew Faull is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Criminology. He was previously a researcher and senior researcher in the Crime and Justice Programme at the Institute for Security Studies and has worked as a police reservist in Cape Town and Pretoria. He is the author of Behind the Badge: the untold stories of South Africa’s Police Service members.

At the time of writing, Brian Rose was an intern in the Crime and Justice Programme at the Institute for Security Studies. He received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, and his master’s degree in government from John Hopkins University in Washington D.C. He is currently pursuing a career in federal law enforcement in the United States.