Lethal force risks
The use of lethal force by police does not solve the problem of crime and is a sign that police have not been able to plan their operation properly to apprehend suspects so they can face the law in court.
This is the warning from Gareth Newham, head of justice and violence prevention at the Institute for Security Studies following the fatal shooting of nine suspects in KwaZulu-Natal this week.
Newham said police are trained to arrest suspects without killing them.
“If they can arrest them, they can get a lot of intelligence out of them through interrogation, they can link them to other crimes and victims of those crime can come forward and get a sense of justice.
“This builds trust in the police and the criminal justice system as a whole. When they go into these situations and for whatever reason get into a fire fight, which if they had proper intelligence they would not need to get into, they not only end up killing people, they also risk killing innocent people and put themselves in great danger,” Newham said.
On Wednesday, 14 suspects were killed by police in two provinces in one of the bloodiest days in the war on crime.
In the early hours of the day, nine suspects were fatally wounded during a shootout with police in Mariannhill, KwaZulu-Natal, and five more were killed in a foiled cash-intransit robbery in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, a few hours later.
Police recovered five rifles and two handguns in the Mpumalanga shooting. Since January, 37 suspects have been killed in KwaZulu-Natal in 11 incidents in areas incuding Inanda, Ulundi, Eshowe, Clermont and Verulam.
The latest killings have sparked debate about whether such police action is justified or exceeds reasonable use of force.
“It suggests there are some serious weaknesses in crime intelligence and operational planning because police are not able to surround these people and negotiate for them to come out,” Newham said
“In the Mariannhill incident, police recovered three firearms but there were nine people killed. How did it happen that they killed six unarmed people without knowing? There are a lot of questions.
“There is a lot of danger with this. Although people might celebrate this ... because people are sick and tired of crime, we don’t know that these people were criminals. We only have the police’s word. There is no prosecutor there to bring hard evidence against them and a defence lawyer to test that evidence.”
He said international experience showed that when police are seen to use excessive force against the public or even criminals, their jobs become more dangerous and this leads to an escalation of attacks against police.
“They then see police as other criminals within the state, and are more likely to try to attack them. This causes the violence to spiral. There are no real benefits to shooting a large number of suspects like this, there are only risks.
“The killing of dangerous suspects does not end crime. Police kill between 300 and 500 people a year. If killing that many people reduced crime, we would see a reduction in murder rates and armed robberies. But we see the opposite.”
This week, the Mariannhill community’s fears were visible during a visit to the area by police minister Bheki Cele on Thursday, a day after the shooting. The community refused to publicly voice their concerns or opinions about crime levels in the area and the shootings. While some said they were “delighted” with the move by the police, they were worried about two suspects still at large.
The father of one of the nine suspects killed told Cele that his son was innocent and the police should not have “shot everyone”.
“Yes, he had some bad friends who were criminals. However, it would have been better if they were arrested because, to my knowledge, they were not fighting but were just shot by the police,” he said.
Meanwhile, the mother of a 24-year-old girl who was gang-raped by a criminal syndicate who terrorised the neighbourhood was relieved after hearing about the shooting.
But she said she now stays at a neighbour’s house as she fears some suspects still on the run might return.
“I don’t think my daughter will ever come back to stay here after what happened to her. I also don’t think I’ll be coming back to my house any time soon. I’m so confused, I don’t even know if I should sell the house. It’s so painful to have your child raped while you’re there and now I’m forced to be separated from them because of these criminals,” said the mother.
Cele said police believe there have been 26 cases linked to the gang, with 23 house robberies, and cases of murder, rape and attempted murder.
He said three firearms, including a rifle, were found at the scene.
“We support the police, and the police have done what they were supposed to do to protect themselves and the community around here. Police in this province and nationally are on top of the situation, and we will continue to work that way. Police are not just trigger-happy to shoot anybody. About 22 police were killed by criminals in South Africa in the last quarter,” said Cele.
He said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) was investigating the deaths of the alleged gang members.
Ipid spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said while the unit was unable to provide statistics, it had observed an increase in the number of killings of suspected criminals in shootouts with police.
“Ipid has a mandate in terms of section 28 of the Ipid Act to investigate all cases of death as a result of police action.”
Constitutional law expert Llewelyn Curlewis said police are entitled to use deadly force in certain circumstances.
“Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act is also applicable and basically suggests that deadly force must be seen as the absolute last resort ... Although they do not have carte blanche to act like cowboys, they must also be seen to fight fire with fire when all else fails,” he said.
We support the police, and the police have done what they were supposed to do to protect themselves and the community around here
Police minister Bheki Cele, left