Viewfinder’s Police Accountability Tracker is an interface to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate's (IPID) database of more than 47,000 complaints registered against the police between April 2012 and March 2020. Users can use the filters to home in on any police station for an overview of cases registered there. Users can also locate any individual case for a "progress report", as at March 2020. The data demonstrates that police officers implicated in violent crimes routinely escape accountability.
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Every year, police in South Africa kill hundreds of people and are accused of brutalising thousands more. A new investigation by Viewfinder has revealed that the killings and brutality are enabled by police management’s reluctance to discipline officers accused of wrongdoing in these cases. This is true even when watchdog investigations conclude that these officers
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After sustained criticism in Parliament this year, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has issued a circular to call out its commanders for their “inaction” and “reluctance” when officers under their command are implicated in serious crimes. Issued on 8 October, the circular warns that police supervisors who fail to act “promptly” in such cases
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In January 2020, Athlone police Sergeant Giovanni Gabriels led a team of constables in a joint operation with the army. At the time, he already had several watchdog findings for assault against him, and he was on a final written warning. Days after the operation, one of the men arrested, 36-year-old Adam Isaacs, died in
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On a Friday evening in December 2013, at the start of the school holidays, 15-year-old Damian Ahrendse was shot and killed near his mother’s house in Wesbank, on the Cape Flats. Witnesses say that a police officer pulled the trigger. An autopsy report concluded that Damian had been shot in the back. Yet, the policeman
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Policemen have been accused of nearly 1,000 rapes since 2012. Many of these suspects stand accused of abusing the authority of their positions to aid them in these crimes, a new investigation by Viewfinder has found. Yet, police management rarely disciplines or dismisses the officers involved. On the afternoon of 6 June 2014, 36-year-old Ermelo
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On 1 April 2020, Ishmael Gama was reportedly tortured and killed by police officers in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg. More than a year after his death, and months after the police watchdog implicated eight officers in murder, police management has not acted. But, this is not an unusual scenario. A new Viewfinder analysis of police
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A mural in Eldorado Park which memorialises Nathaniel Julies Next month it will be one year since 16-year-old Nathaniel Julies was killed in Eldorado Park. Three police officers, charged variously with murder and accessory to murder, are due to stand trial for Julies’ killing later this year. Julies’ killing sparked protests in Eldorado Park, which
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The crusading investigative work that @viewfinderjourn has done on the excesses of the @SAPoliceService keeps it on our list for a second year running.
Their presence on the GIJN list is not just related to this single story. https://viewfinder.org.za/massive-database-of-killings-by-police-made-public/
