The Police And The Call To Serve

   POLICING AND A CAREER IN THE POLICE SERVICES 

‘Courier Magazine’ (February 1959) quoted in Speech by Minister Of Justice: Parliament (South Africa) on 12 May 1959.

1. “We demand that members of the police force, from the constable on the beat to the Commissioner, should not only be morally spotless but that they should possess the highest degree of social conscience, physical fearlessness, a knowledge of legal procedure, enough selfcontrol to abstain from the use of unnecessary force, good humour, the tenderness of parents, the analytical intelligence of a scientist, the insight of a psychologist, organizing ability, Godlike objectivity, forensic powers, medical knowledge, natural authority, and a dozen other attributes.

2. “We demand the impossible; and when a few policemen err, as all human flesh errs, or betray their trust, as thousands of civilians do every day, we are apt to conclude that our police forces are falling away from the utterly unattainable standards we have set for them. A little imagination would correct this error. Put yourself in the position of a policeman on beat.

3. “On you rests the execution of the most distasteful of duties. ie. that of keeping order and, when necessary, carrying out arrests; dealing with drunken savages, screaming prostitutes, thugs armed with pistols, coshes and knives, violent burglars, sexual maniacs, political mobs and insolent upperclass rowdies.

4. “You will be spat upon and jeered at. Your simple manhood as well as your official dignity will be insulted by hooligans who think it funny, first to knock your off your helmet, then to floor you, then to kick you when you are down.

5. “You will have to deal with people and situations such as these and you will have to make instant decisions on how to act. Make a mistake and you are sunk. You can be summonsed and tried, perhaps discharged, from the force for a simple error of identity. When your conduct has been above reproach you are not out of the wood.

6. “In the courts of law where you are called upon to give evidence, defending counsel will try to make a monkey out of you. They will demand your notebook and treat the entries as clumsy and even criminal fabrications. They will sneer at your grammatical errors in Oxford accents and try to humiliate you in the eyes of the jury. They will browbeat you, treat you as dirt … until you feel like dirt.

7. “If you are a sensitive man … officially you are not supposed to have feelings at all … you will be forced to conclude that everybody hates a policeman. You will go home to your wife and children feeling like an outcast and consequently your domestic life and happiness may be marred. And if, like yourself, your wife is a sensitive person, she too will suffer, never knowing when another policeman will knock on the door to tell her that you are dead or in hospital with a bullet or a knife wound.”

“Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul …” 

[Proverbs 29:24a]. 

"To do justice and judgment is more pleasing to Jehovah than sacrifice ... 

   "If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not marvel at the matter. For He who is higher than the highest watches; and there are some higher than they." [Proverbs21:3; Ecclesiastes21:3].

Acknowledgement

1. Van Onselen, L.E. (1960) A Rapsody In Blue. Howard Timmins. Cape Town.

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