/ 29 July 1994

Police Degree Out Of Step With New Sa

Paul Stober

AN international policing expert has slammed the police science degree at the University of South Africa (Unisa) — necessary for policemen who want to work their way through South African Police ranks — as dated and out of tune with the needs of the new police service.

In a paper submitted to the International Training Committee, set up to evaluate the training of South African policemen and develop a new curriculum, professor of criminal justice Mike Brogden said: ”The BA Police Science is like a dinosaur — all body and little brain. It reflects the thinking of a different era.” Brogden, who wrote the paper in May this year, is a member of the committee.

Much of the teaching and tutoring in the Unisa course is done by the SAPS’ Graaff Reinet Police Academy. Both the academy and the degree course are close to the hearts of the SAPS general staff — most of whom have gone through the academy and have the police sciences degree. ”Attacking the degree is like attacking their qualifications,” said a local police training expert.

Brogden identified several ”sins of omission” in the course. He pointed out that accountability to the community, racism, sexism and community policing — involving communities in upholding the law in their own areas, an approach adopted by the SAP last year — hardly feature in the course material.

”What is astonishing is that the topic of race is rarely mentioned in the course. The degree cannot hope to move forward without bringing the question of race as an area of discrimination in police practice into lengthy critical discussion,” said Brogden.

Commenting on the scant mention of community policing in the course, Brogden said: ”It is astonishing that when the new South Africa is discussing community policing — with all its defects — the major course on policing in the country fails to recognise its importance.”

The International Training Committee’s proposals for a new curriculum for policing training, submitted to the Police Board in November last year, are likely to be adopted by the Ministry of Safety and Security, according to sources close to Minister Sydney Mufamadi’s advisory team.

The proposals focus on equipping policemen to better understand and resolve problems in the communities they serve — rather than on just enforcing the law.

In a radical departure from the usual ”chalk and talk” training, the new curriculum emphasises field training. Trainees are first placed in the field under the control of a Field Training Officer (FTO) and then on their own, under an FTO’s supervision. The International Training Committee has set up an implementation committee, under international and local supervision, to run a pilot field-training programme. This committee will also be charged with implementing the new basic training proposals in the SAPS.

Work of the International Training Committee is expected to be taken over by an appointed national police training board.