CMY3706 Assignment 1 Semester 2.

CMY3706 Assignment 1 Semester 2. Contemporary Criminological Issues. Murder of a police officer The murder of a police officer is defined as the intentional causing of the death of a police official without a lawful excuse (Bezuidenhout & Klopper 2011:209). Police officer A police officer is any person appointed by virtue of section 5.2 of the South African Police Service Act 68 of 1995 (hereafter referred to as the SAPS Act) or any other Act to serve in the South African Police Service. Causes and motives Something that cause a person to act in a certain way, do a certain thing. (Definition of motive | D, 2020) something (such as a need or desire) that causes a person to act (Definition of Motive, 2020) 5 3. The causes and motives resulting in the horrible attacks and murders of South African police officials 3.1Avoiding arrest Police work is considered a highly dangerous profession, officials often have to work under strenuous and unsafe conditions (Minaar 2011b:12). Officers are frequently required to work in high-risk situations, engaging in high-speed chases, robberies and confronting potentially violent individuals. According to Kwinika (2011) criminals that are involved in violent crimes will definitely not hesitate to shoot [kill] in order to avoid arrest. Law enforcement official forty-sixyear-old Deon Sampson was run over by a taxi driver while manning a roadblock in Lingelethu. It is alleged that the taxi driver was under the influence of alcohol. “Sampson [officer] and his colleagues were on routine roadblock duties on Friday night when they flagged down a taxi. While the officer was checking the vehicle's licence disc, the driver of the [taxi] accelerated, and the officer was dragged for a few hundred metres on Spine Road” (Eyewitness news). 3.2 Theft of police service pistols Robberies (i.e. theft of service pistols) was one of the main reasons for the attacks on police officials. According to Minnaar (2011b:16), police officials has become an easy target to attack and rob of their service pistols, particularly when they are unaware of any bad motives by criminals while being off duty. Many of these crimes (firearm theft) occur when the police officer is alone at a crime scene and waiting for back-up to arrive. It is at times like these that police officials are most vulnerable to be overpowered by the criminal(s) and their service pistols retrieved from them. One reason giving for either an attack on police or the murder of a member is the fact that when they are off-duty they go drinking in the wrong places or take their firearms into places of entertainment instead of locking up (safeguarding) such firearms in a gun safe at home (Acta Criminologica 16:3) ” One question that research has tried to answer is the extent to which robberies of firearms have motivated attacks and, related to this, whether it might be in the best interest of the police to disarm, even when on duty. One report, for instance, indicates that firearms were stolen from the 6 deceased members in a hundred and fourteen (15%) of the seven hundred and fifty-four cases” (SA CRIME QUARTERLY). But while firearms are sometimes stolen when police are killed, it is often difficult to clarify whether this is the primary motive for the killing or whether firearms were simply taken opportunistically afterwards. On Friday the seventh of August 2020 a female official in George was rushed to hospital after she sustained gunshot wounds to her neck. According to NEWS 24 the law enforcement officer pulled over a black Audi with a false number plate that was driving recklessly on the N2.”MakobaSomdaka said, that the driver allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the officer, before taking her service pistol” (News 24:07 Aug 2020). 3.3 Inadequate training “Inadequate training, incorrect training or the lack of specialised training were all cited as important reasons why police officers are killed” says Anthony Minnaar (2011b:15). According to Minnaar police officials’ lack of training in firearm training, the handling of firearms in arrest, crime scene situations and also the fact that firearms are not properly safeguarded when a police officer is off duty. When Moodley did her research on the training of the SAPS police officials use of lethal force in 2009 she had a real cause for concern due to the inadequate training police officers had in the use of lethal force. During the research it was revealed that a greater part of the operational officers interviewed did not receive the necessary training or re-training on the use of lethal force and its legal implications after the amendment to section 49 in 2003 (Moodley: 2009:181). The researched done by Moodley concluded that police officials lacked the necessary knowledge and training when it came to the use of their firearms especially when confronted and placed in a dangerous and threatening situation (Moodley: 2009:187). “The fact that police also go into the wrong places with a firearm (i.e. a shebeen), coupled to poor awareness of how to carry a firearm and secure it on your person at all times, also exacerbate the situation” (Minnaar 2011:15).