Ethics and ethos in the South African Police service : an overview of the Johannesburg Central Police Station

Abstract

Section 195(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 provides that, in public administration, a high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained. The South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Code of Conduct (1997) provides that “the police service should work actively towards preventing any form of corruption and bringing those guilty of unethical conduct to justice”. The Service Integrity Framework of the SAPS Strategic Plan Document (2002/5) provides that “police officers should be encouraged to resist and expose any form of unethical conduct and to improve management and supervision thereof”. This means that the individual police officer should display a high level of professional ethics in the provision of safety and security to members of the public. However, according to the Independent Complaints Directorate’s (ICD) Annual Report (2003/4:8) “there is a rising level of unethical conduct amongst individual police officers nationally”. This dissertation aims to analyse the implementation of an ethical framework in the SAPS with specific reference to the Crime Prevention Unit (CPU) of the Johannesburg Central Police Station (JCPS). In this dissertation, both ethics and ethos are conceptualised as cornerstones of effective service delivery. The dissertation analyses the environmental conditions that affect the conduct and behaviour of individual police officers. It focuses on the impact of both internal and external environmental conditions on police officers during their provision of safety and security. The dissertation analyses the causes of negative work ethics and ethos among individual police officers. The dissertation analyses the manifestations of these negative work ethics and ethos in order to suggest effective comprehensive remedial strategies. This dissertation identifies instruments for the effective implementation of an ethical framework on the CPU of the JCPS and further assesses the efficacy of the existing constitutional institutions towards the effective implementation of an ethical framework in the CPU. Furthermore, this dissertation presents recommendations for the CPU of the JCPS to effectively implement its ethical framework. The enhancement of positive work ethics and ethos is critical for an effective service delivery.