South Africa: The Absurd Targets We Force On the Police to Fight Crime

analysis

One of the most disturbing discoveries I made while researching my new book was the network of targets that the police live their days by. Every police station has specific targets to meet, weekly and monthly. And though there are horrific occurrences of corruption in my new book The Street: Exposing a World of Cops, Bribes and Drug Dealers - a systematic exposure over two years of research of the bribes the cops take from drug dealers - I couldn't help but feel sympathy for the police as they are forced to adhere to unsophisticated goals. By PAUL MCNALLY.

A prominent example given to me was around knives. A station will set a target for the officers to bring in 10 knives every week, to confiscate from people randomly as they walk down the street. I researched the book while mostly sitting on Ontdekkers Road in Johannesburg.

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