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This book explores how social and territorial boundaries have influenced the approaches and practices of the South Africa Police Service (SAPS). By means of a historical analysis of South Africa, this book introduces a new concept, 'police frontierism', which illuminates the nature of the relationships between the police, policing and boundaries, and can potentially be used for future case study research.
Drawing on a wealth of research, this book examines how social and territorial boundaries strongly influenced police practices and behaviour in South Africa, and how social delineations amplify and distort existing police prejudices against those communities on the other side of the boundary. Focusing on cases of high-density police operations, public-order policing and the recent policing of the COVID-19 lockdown, this book argues that poor economic conditions combined with an increased militarisation of the SAPS and a decline in public trust in the police will result in boundaries continuing to fundamentally inform police work in South Africa.
This book will be of interest to scholars and students interested in policing in post-colonial societies characterised by high levels of violence, as well as police work and police militarization.
List of contents
Introduction
1. Boundaries, the police and police work: A conceptualisation
2. Policing and boundaries in South African prior to 1948
3. The South African Police and the Policing of Apartheid
4. Violent crime, firearms and post-apartheid police work
5. Public Order Policing
6. SAPS high-density policing operations
7. COVID and policing in South Africa
8. Conclusion
About the author
Guy Lamb is a Criminologist with the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Between 2012 and 2020 he was the Director of the Safety and Violence Initiative at the University of Cape Town. Prior to this he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Security Studies (2006-2012), and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Conflict Resolution (2000-2005). He has undertaken research and published on policing, violence reduction, urban safety, policing and peace-building issues in Africa for more than 20 years. He has worked with numerous governments and various United Nations agencies on violence and security issues.
Summary
This book explores how social and territorial boundaries have influenced the approaches and practices of the South Africa Police Service (SAPS).
