Police Organisations in Post Conflict African States: SA by Janine Rauch October 2006.
This research paper gives an overview of South African policing and its historical context.  The paper includes issues of police reform; demilitarisation of the police; changing personnel demographics; police and community relations; oversight and accountability; the role of donors in the process of reform; and transitional justice mechanisms. This paper was produced for a workshop run by IDASA's Safety and Security Programme, in order to facilitate a deeper understanding of the experience of South Africa's process of police transformation.  Full text available from www.idasa.org.za under the Safety and Security Programme - research reports. 
 

“Crime, Justice, and Growth in South Africa: Toward a Plausible Contribution from Criminal Justice to Economic Growth,” Center for International Development, Harvard University, Working Paper No. 131, August 2006 by Christopher Stone.
Abstract: Crime in South Africa is high and widely believed to restrain investment. Nevertheless, both the mechanisms through which crime constrains growth and the actions that might be taken to loosen its grip are poorly understood. In light of the limited knowledge in the field and the limited capacity of criminal justice institutions, this paper proposes focusing on two issues: (1) the costs of crime to business, especially householdbased enterprises in low-income settlements, and (2) the perception of violent crime. In both cases, the paper proposes a cyclical process of iterative innovation in which
government seeks to solve narrowly circumscribed crime problems, and then leverages each success to generate wider hope and confidence in the criminal justice system. View online >>>>> 

The latest  Independent Complaints Directorate Annual Report is available full text online. www.icd.gov.za/reports/2006/annualreprt06a.pdf

"Trojan horses? usaid, counter-terrorism and Africa's police,"
Alice Hills, Third World Quarterly, 2006, 27(4): 629-643. Abstract only
"The purpose of US foreign assistance has shifted in the wake of 2001, and Washington has resurrected practices previously associated with police aid during the Cold War. In particular, the Bush administration has broadened the remit of the United States Agency for International Development (usaid) in such a way as to make it a quasi-security agency. The consequences of this could be significant for both usaid and democratic-style police assistance programmes more generally, for today's threat-driven policies are part of a trend which in the past has had worrying consequences. Using the critical variable of public policing (which is illustrated by reference to developments in Kenya), I argue that using usaid to improve the counter-terrorist capacity of Africa's police in the pursuit of US national security objectives is a seriously flawed". 

"The Untold Story: The Regulation of Police Labour Rights and the Quest for Police Democratisation" by Monique Marks & Jenny Fleming, Police Practice and Research, Vol. 7, No. 4, September 2006, pp. 309–322. Abstract only.
"This paper explores the struggles for labour and social rights on the part of police officers in democratising countries. The paper suggests that the rights of police officers and labour– management relations are important issues to be acknowledged if we are serious about
deepening the democratic practices of police, particularly in democratising countries. These issues should be deliberated among policing scholars and police managers as well as important international regulatory organisations such as the ILO whose current regulatory frameworks inadvertently restrict police worker rights".

IDASA to work in the DRC on Police Reform
Safety and Security Programme. 19/10/2006
IDASA has begun to work in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Police Reform.  With the political system within the DRC being revamped, security concerns have become paramount....  A seminar will be organised to bring relevant stakeholders together in the next 6 months. A focussed group of activities will be conducted to build capacity in civil society to engage with the topic of policing and police reform, and engage civil society in policy discussions on the topic.  Parliamentary commissioners will participate in sessions that will inform and strengthen their knowledge of police reform, and provide understanding about comparative data from other post conflict countries on the continent. Media workers will also be trained on reporting methods to educate and inform citizens on policing matters in general.  www.idasa.org.za

SAPS wants 48-hour detention extended 
Wyndham Hartley. Business Day. www.bday.co.za 02/11/2006
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula dropped a bombshell yesterday when he called for changes to the law that requires that suspects detained by police to be charged within 48 hours or be released.  View details >>>>
 
Inadequate training, exodus of experienced staff place forensic labs in crisis mode.
ANÃL POWELL. Cape Times. 1 November 2006
Inadequate training and the mass exodus of skilled staff have plunged police and health department forensic laboratories into a "national crisis". View details >>>>

Stop sex officer roll-out — DA 
Chantelle Benjamin. Business Day. 31/10/2006
Child rights advocacy organisations and the Democratic Alliance (DA) are calling for a halt to the pilot roll-out of family violence, child abuse and sexual offences officers to Gauteng police stations until problems have been ironed out.  View details >>>>

Trevor gets tough on crime:Treasury’s plans to get criminals off the street and behind bars – fast.
Julius Cobbett. Moneyweb. 25/10/2006
Reducing the level of crime in South Africa has been identified by government as a key policy. To achieve this, more police, improved administration of justice and better infrastructure are identified as key priorities.  View details >>>>

 
Police watchdog to sharpen its focus 
Ernest Mabuza. Business Day. www.bday.co.za 25/10/2006
The Independent Complaints Directorate’s blueprint for the next three years promises to speed up its investigation of cases of police misconduct and deaths in police custody. The directorate has undertaken to ensure it can fulfil its mandate with the resources available after Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula committed more funds to strengthen the body this year. View details >>>>

Safety and Security Portfolio Committee Department 2005/06 Annual Report: Briefings by Parliamentary Researchers and National Treasury. Parliamentary Monitoring Group 10/10/2006 The Committee received two sets of briefings on the 2005/06 Annual Reports of the South African Police Services and the Independent Complaints Directorate. Presentations were made by the Parliamentary Research Unit and officials from National Treasury. Members raised concerns about the ineffectiveness of the Directorate and incompetence of its personnel, the ambitious policies and programmes of the Police Services which never materialised and the “cut and paste” approach applied by both departments using previous years’ annual reports to compile the current one. It was agreed that the Department of Safety and Security, the Police Services and the Directorate would appear before the Committee to answers these concerns. View details >>>>

Police said to protect rapists in their midst 
Karyn Maughan and Lebogang Seale. Pretoria News. ww.iol.co.za 16/10/2006
Police officers are accused of protecting colleagues facing rape charges - and the 22 such cases in the past year are just "the tip of the iceberg". Police watchdog the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) says in a report that the 22 complaints - lodged between April 2005 and March this year - were the highest number recorded in the past six years. View details >>>>

Cash-van guards get three weeks' training 
Bonile Ngqiyaza. Pretoria News. www.iol.co.za 16/10/2006
Three weeks' training is all a security guard gets before he has to perform highly dangerous cash-in-transit work. The Pretoria News has learned that the Fidelity Training College in Robertsville gives security guards wanting to specialise in cash-in-transit work a week per grade to complete their course. View details >>>>

Mitchell’s Plain calls in Red Ants
Aziz Hartley. Cape Times. 02/10/2006
Security guards armed with crowbars, dubbed Red Ants and brought to the Western Cape from Gauteng to counter violent protests at Shoprite Checkers branches in townships, have been deployed to Mitchell's Plain.  View details >>>>

Apology onlack of SAPS consultation by Nqakula
Sapa. Cape Times. 29/09/2006
Johannesburg: Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has apologised for the lack of consultation about the restructuring of the SA Police Service. This after non-government organisations decried the unilateral decision. View details >>>>

Court lets police invoke Section 49 
Estelle Ellis. The Mercury. available www.iol.co.za 27/09/2006 The Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday partially resurrected the infamous Section 49 - used to justify the killing of suspects by police - saying that it could still be an excuse for cases that happened before 2002.  View details >>>>

Nqakula intent on taking control of metro police
SAPA. Cape Times. 13/09/2006
PRETORIA: The process to put all policing, including metro police, under the command and control of the SA Police Service is "advancing apace" Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said yesterday. 
View details >>>>

Zimbabwe:

Zimbabwe union chiefs tell of police beatings 
Mail & Guardian 18/09/2006
More than a dozen Zimbabwean trade union leaders were tortured in police custody last week, according to harrowing testimony from their hospital beds and statements by their lawyers and doctors.
View details >>>>

Kenya:
 
Kenya. Police unit tops list of human rights abusers 
Samuel Otieno. The Standard.  18/09/2006
The police remain the most notorious abuser of human rights, the latest human rights accountability report says.The report — Shielding Impunity — accuses the police of committing serious human rights violation including torture, extra-judicial execution and arbitrary arrests.  View details >>>>

 Angola:

President Sacks Police, Armed Forces Chiefs  
Angola Press Agency (Luanda).  25/10/2006
Angola's Head of State Jos' Eduardo dos Santos on Tuesday in Luanda dismissed the head of National Police, commissioner Jos' Alfredo Ekuikui and the chief of Army Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), General Agostinho Fernandes Nelumba. View details >>>>

African Policing The aim of this new website launched by Bruce Baker is to disseminate research on African Policing; facilitate links with researchers in African Policing and to provide a forum for exchange of information or debate. www.africanpolicing.org

The African Transitional Justice Research Network (ATJRN) aims to build the capacity of local level researchers and civil society organizations in African countries so that they can effectively inform and evaluate transitional justice mechanisms; strengthen human rights advocacy; and address the obstacles which hamper knowledge sharing amongst civil society on the African continent. http://www.transitionaljustice.org.za/