A Question of Access? Comparing Perceptions of Police Services Among the Underprivileged in South Africa and Zimbabwe

• In Event: Cultivating Satisfaction, Trust and Confidence in Police

Abstract

Access to basic services is most challenging in underprivileged communities in developing countries. In many cases, services are either deficient or unavailable. The research uses a household survey conducted in 2010 in one under-resourced community each in urban South Africa and Zimbabwe to focus on how the standard of the police is perceived by 200 residents in these sites. Findings in both sites highlight that while the police are expected to be responsible for the prevention and fighting of crime, participants either resorted to their own devices when confronted with security threats, or only referred specific concerns to the police. What is apparent is that the levels of access and standard of service of the police pose challenges to each community, albeit in varying ways. In most cases, the police are cited by participants as the body responsible for providing and ensuring safety, although when actually facing crime and insecurity, participants identified alternative agents as providing security. The research contributes to the understanding of how police services in modern, urban Africa are imagined, perceived and encountered. It sheds light on the disjuncture between the expectations placed on the police and the reality of the service provided.

Author

• Tariro Mutongwizo, Griffith University