Protector or predator? - Institute for Security Studies

Protector or predator?
an occupational reality about which little can be done. However, police managers
are socialised in the same way as other officials and tend to share the same
values and concerns. Generally, relationships between patrol officials and commanders
are defined by the extent to which the patrol official feels supported by
the superior. 52 Street-level police officials consider ‘good’ commanders to be those
who identify with and protect the ranks.
Most managers would rather exercise their authority through acquiescence
and agreement than through questioning and confrontation. They may be
willing to ‘overlook’ a range of malpractices as long as certain targets are met
(e.g. numbers of arrests per month). There is a particular danger of this in the
SAPS with the organisation’s emphasis in recent years on a station performance
measurement system. Although this measurement system aims to be holistic in
nature, it is often interpreted by police on the ground as emphasising levels of
reported crime beyond other measurements. This misinterpretation, encouraged
by political and public discourses that are crime-statistic focused, has led to the
development of illicit practices as some commanders attempt to manipulate the
statistics to reflect declining crime trends in their jurisdictions. 53 Once this type
of practice starts to take root, it fundamentally affects organisational integrity at
a systemic level.
The broader social environment or ‘task environment’
One of the longest-standing approaches to understanding police corruption has
focused heavily on the ‘task environment’ in which police officials operate. 54 The
task environment includes both the broader socio-political environment as well
as the particular environment of policing activities. It has often been argued that
‘societies differ in their mores, customs, and standards of behaviour. These differences
in turn may account for the differing degrees and kinds of corruption found
across countries’. 55 However, as noted in 1996 by Transparency International:
‘While different societies may draw the line of acceptable conduct at different
levels, there is no country where the people consider it proper that those in positions
of political power enrich themselves through illicit agreements with commercial
contractors at the expense of the best interests of the citizenry.’ 56
With regards to policing, however, much of the engagement between police
officials and citizens occur at the lower ends of society that fall outside of established
elites. Those dealing with certain crime categories may consistently be
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