52-527: SA Police may refer to: South African Police , former police force in South Africa from the early 20th century until the end of Apartheid. South African Police Service , the current national police force of South Africa. South Australia Police , the police force of the state of South Australia. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
104-554: A burglary took place at the Pan Africanist Congress office in London . Two suspects were arrested. One of them, a Swedish journalist, Bertil Wedin , was eventually acquitted by an English court . Wedin admitted, however, that he was working for South African intelligence and that he had been recruited by Craig Williamson. The other suspect, South African Defence Force Sergeant Joseph Klue had diplomatic immunity as
156-563: A large enrollment of black policemen. As the apartheid era ended, these programs were restructured to emphasise racial tolerance and respect for basic human rights. The first racially integrated intake of recruits began slowly in 1993 and integration was complete by 1995. Today there is only one Police College to train new recruits in Pretoria. The police also increased recruitment among black youth and hired international police training experts to advise them on ways to improve race relations in
208-977: A member of staff at the South African embassy in London and was ordered to leave the United Kingdom. Williamson applied for amnesty in 1995 from South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for bombing the London office of the ANC in March 1982. In the British House of Commons in June 1995, Peter Hain MP asked through the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard , that the British police should interview and consider extraditing Williamson to stand trial for
260-647: A number of special units within the police, formed either to carry out a specific task or to deal with a particular area of crime. Koevoet , translated into English as 'crowbar', but officially known as the Police Counter-Insurgency Unit (COIN) or 'Operation K' was a major paramilitary police unit in South African-administered South West Africa , now the Republic of Namibia . Active during
312-577: A paramilitary hit squad, capturing political opponents of the National Party government and either "turning" or executing them. C1 was also responsible for several fatal bomb attacks against anti-apartheid activists, including members of the African National Congress . The Vlakplaas farm became the site of multiple executions of political opponents of the apartheid government. The Police Reserve, established in 1973, enabled
364-711: A ratio of less than 1.5 police per 1,000 people, down from 1.67 per 1,000 people in the 1960s. Alarmed by the increased political violence and crime in the mid-1980s and by the lack of adequate police support, officials then increased the size of the police force to 93,600—a ratio of 2.7 per 1,000 people—by 1991. The police were authorised to act on behalf of other government officials when called upon. For example, in rural areas and small towns, where there may be no public prosecutor available, police personnel could institute criminal proceedings. The police could legally serve as wardens, court clerks, and messengers, as well as immigration, health, and revenue officials. In some circumstances,
416-578: A year – until funding was withdrawn in 1992 – to underwrite Operation Babushka , the code-name by which the IFF project was known. An article about the "enigma" Craig Williamson in the SA Sunday Times of 20 September 1998 entitled "The spy who never came in from the cold" concluded with the Williamson dictum : I respect a person who's willing to die for his country, but I admire a person who
468-611: The South African News Agency to recruit and use journalists for apartheid South African counter-intelligence purposes. Williamson also attempted to infiltrate the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), though he was successfully deflected by Phyllis Altman , general secretary of IDAF. His cover was finally revealed by Arthur McGiven who reported his activities in the Observer. In 1982,
520-855: The Cape Colony , the Natal Colony , the Orange River Colony , and the Transvaal Colony in law enforcement in South Africa . Proclamation 18 formed the South African Police on 1 April 1913 with the amalgamation of the police forces of the four old colonies after the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The first Commissioner of Police was Colonel Theo G Truter with 5,882 men under his command. The SAP originally policed cities and urban areas, while
572-619: The Namibian War of Independence from 1979 to 1989, they were held responsible for committing multiple human rights violations, and alongside the South West African Police , they were disbanded following Namibian independence in 1989, and were essentially replaced by the Special Field Force in modern-day Namibia. Formed following a need to defend the border between South Africa and Rhodesia during
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#1732775749489624-731: The Rhodesian Bush War , the Special Task Force was unofficially founded in 1967, and began to be trained to use advanced tactics, such as survival and bush skills, to carry out COIN operations, and drastically reduce police casualties – this unit was nicknamed 'the Bliksems '. By 1975, support for creating the Special Task Force reached the Bureau of State Security, following both the Fox Street Siege , in which
676-635: The Socialist International in 1976 and was based in London until 1983. In 1981, Williamson recruited the woman who would become South Africa's best-known female spy, Olivia Forsyth . The same source accused Williamson of syphoning off IUEF funds to establish a dirty tricks operation in Pretoria known as "Long Reach" in order to target apartheid's opponents both in South Africa and abroad. This dirty tricks operation also involved arms trafficking. Again using IUEF funds, Williamson set up
728-534: The South African Border War , all policemen were required to complete a 6-week intensive counterinsurgency (C.O.I.N.) training at Maleoskop (now closed) in specialised weapons and "bush warfare" in preparation for their 3 months "call up". (Some volunteering and been called up more frequently.) Since 1990, South Africa also has provided training for police from Lesotho , Swaziland , Malawi and (then) Zaire . The climate of escalating violence in
780-571: The ANC. While in exile in Botswana some years earlier, the Schoons had broken Williamson's cover internally within the ANC, several months before his public exposure in the UK, allowing the ANC leadership to attempt to manipulate Williamson covertly for their own purposes. The Schoons' younger son Fritz, then aged three, witnessed the murder of his mother and sister at close hand; found wandering alone in
832-616: The London bombing. The Home Secretary turned down Hain's request. Amnesty was eventually granted by the TRC to Williamson and seven others on 15 October 1999. Following the TRC hearing, South African lawyer Anton Alberts commented to the "woza" news agency: "If you look at the Lockerbie disaster - this is very similar. I think Britain would like to see these guys are prosecuted in England even though they get amnesty here." Williamson ordered
884-519: The Police. On 21 March 1960, SAP officers in the Transvaal township of Sharpeville opened fire on a large anti-apartheid protest outside of the local police station, killing 69 demonstrators and injuring 180 others. Police reports from the time of the massacre claimed that panicking officers spontaneously fired into an increasingly violent crowd; however, other sources claim that the demonstration
936-568: The SAP operated to quell civil unrest amongst the country's disenfranchised non-white majority. During emergencies they were assisted by the military. Beyond the conventional police functions of upholding order and solving crime, the SAP employed counterinsurgency and intimidation tactics against anti-apartheid activists and critics of the white minority government . From 1961 to 1990, a total of 67 people died in South African Police detention from hanging and torture as well as natural causes as claimed by
988-585: The SAP took over the South West African Police and became responsible for policing South West Africa, which was under South African administration at that time. Police officials often called on the army for support in emergencies. In turn, one SAP brigade served with the 2nd Infantry Division of the South African Army in North Africa during World War II . After the war, the South African Police joined INTERPOL on 1 January 1948. When
1040-613: The South African Mounted Riflemen, a branch of the Union Defence Force , enforced the state's writ in rural areas. During World War I , the SAP took over the Riflemen's jurisdiction, and most Riflemen personnel were transferred to the SAP by the end of the 1910s. By 1926, the South African Mounted Riflemen were disbanded and their duties were taken over by the South African Police. In 1939,
1092-662: The apartheid State Security Council , chaired by Prime Minister P. W. Botha , recorded Craig Williamson as plotting the overthrow of the government in Mozambique. In mid-1984 Craig Williamson mailed a letter-bomb which on 28 June killed Jeanette Schoon , who was the wife of Marius Schoon , and their six-year-old daughter Katryn, at the family's home in exile in Lubango in Angola . Both Jeanette and Marius Schoon were prominent South African anti-apartheid activists and members of
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#17327757494891144-609: The assassination of Ruth Slovo , who was an exiled campaigner for the Anti-Apartheid Movement , close friend of Sweden's prime minister, Olof Palme and the ANC author of a pioneering study of Namibia . She was also the wife of the South African Communist Party 's leader, Joe Slovo . She was killed by a letter-bomb in Maputo , Mozambique on 18 August 1982. In January 1984, minutes of
1196-629: The award of IUEF scholarships to African students. He was thus able to infiltrate the banned African National Congress (ANC) and, at the same time, make high-level contacts in Sweden which provided most of the funding for the IUEF. Williamson's networking through prime minister Olof Palme 's office in Stockholm put him in touch with a number of Palme's close associates including Pan Am Flight 103 victim, Bernt Carlsson , who had become secretary-general of
1248-410: The bomb-maker Jerry Raven, that the former was the case. In June 2000, a year after Marius Schoon died of lung cancer, TRC amnesty for this killing and that of Ruth Slovo was granted to Williamson, despite Marius Schoon's earlier testimony strongly opposing amnesty. Schoon had argued that the whole truth about the murder of his wife and daughter had not, as required, been revealed by Williamson, and that
1300-491: The cinema with his wife, Lisbeth Palme . The subsequent Stockholm Police investigation into the murder was criticised for its lassitude and incompetence for not quickly solving the crime. Five days after Palme's murder, Swedish author and journalist Per Wästberg reported twice to the Swedish police that South African intelligence services must have been involved, but no action was taken by the police. Ten years later, Williamson
1352-481: The conservative National Party edged out liberal opponents in South Africa's elections in 1948, the new government enacted legislation strengthening the relationship between the police and the military. The police were heavily armed after that, especially when facing unruly or hostile crowds. The Police Act (No. 7) of 1958 broadened the mission of the SAP beyond conventional police functions, such as maintaining law and order and investigating and preventing crime and gave
1404-481: The early 1980s, police units were integrated, but most police recruits had been trained in single-race classes, sometimes in institutions designated for one racial group. For example, most black police personnel had trained at Hammanskraal, near Pretoria; most whites, in Pretoria; most coloureds, Bishop Lavis, near Cape Town; and Asians at Chatsworth, near Durban. During the late 1980s, the Hammanskraal college saw
1456-437: The early 1990s often posed even greater challenges to the police than they had faced in the 1980s, as violence shifted from anti-government activity to a mosaic of political rivalries and factional clashes. At the same time, many South Africans feared that the police were causing some of the criminal and political violence, and they demanded immediate changes in the police force to mark the end of apartheid-era injustices. To meet
1508-634: The entire country in 1983. Among the SAP's spies during the apartheid era was the infamous Craig Williamson and his best-known female recruit Olivia Forsyth . The SAP relinquished its responsibility for South West Africa in 1981. It took over the South African Railways Police Force in 1986 . The following people have served as the Commissioner of the South African Police: There were
1560-629: The force absorbed the police forces of Bophuthatswana , Ciskei , Gazankulu , KaNgwane , KwaNdebele . KwaZulu , Lebowa , QwaQwa , Transkei , and Venda , and was renamed the South African Police Service . Policemen and women were eligible for a number of awards. These included: The SAP was eligible for the British King's Police Medal , which was awarded annually throughout the British Empire . This
1612-557: The government merged the formerly dreaded Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the police Security Branch to form a Crime Combatting and Investigation (CCI) Division. The new CCI, with responsibility for reversing the rising crime rate, combined the intelligence and operational resources of the security police with the anticrime capabilities of the CID. Minister of Law and Order Hernus Kriel in 1991 also appointed an ombudsman to investigate allegations of police misconduct. He increased
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1664-413: The government to recall former police personnel for active duty for thirty to ninety days each year, and for additional service in times of emergency. Another reserve (volunteer) force was established in 1966, consisting of unpaid, mostly White civilians willing to perform limited police duties. A youth wing of this reserve force reported that it had inducted almost 3,000 students and young people to assist
1716-478: The house, and severely traumatised, he developed epilepsy from which he never fully recovered. Following Williamson's application for amnesty for the killings, Schoon filed a civil suit against Williamson, seeking damages for his son. However, the suit was suspended pending Williamson's Amnesty hearing. It has never been determined whether the letter-bomb had been addressed specifically to Marius Schoon or to both him and his wife; Williamson claimed to his subordinate,
1768-694: The leader of UNITA – the Angolan rebel movement – supported by both Washington and Pretoria. The film's producer, Jack Abramoff , was also head of the International Freedom Foundation (IFF). Established in Washington in 1986 as a conservative think-tank, the IFF was in fact part of an elaborate intelligence gathering operation and, according to Craig Williamson, was designed to be "an instrument for political warfare against apartheid's foes". South Africa spent up to $ 1.5 million
1820-438: The most turbulent townships. Even with training courses extended to three months, their often brutal and inept performance contributed to the growing hostility between the police and the public by the late 1980s. Although the mission of the SAP grew well beyond conventional policing responsibilities during the 1970s, the size of the police force declined relative to population. In 1981 the police force of roughly 48,991 represented
1872-462: The murder of his wife and daughter had been carried out in revenge. Williamson's bomb-maker, Jerry Raven, testified: On 21 February 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme addressed the anti-apartheid conference Svensk folkriksdag mot apartheid (Swedish People's Parliament Against Apartheid) at the People's House in Stockholm , Sweden. A week later, Palme was shot and killed after attending
1924-560: The new South African honours system. After South Africa became a republic (in 1961), the government instituted an entirely new series of decorations and medals for the SAP. It was added to several times over the years: Craig Williamson Craig Michael Williamson (born 1949), is a former officer in the South African Police , who was exposed as a spy and assassin for the Security Branch in 1980. Williamson
1976-408: The new challenges, the 91,000 active police personnel in 1991, including administrative and support personnel, were increased to more than 110,000 by 1993 and 140,000 by 1995. Throughout this time, police reserves numbered at least 37,000. In 1996 the combined active and reserve police represented a police-to-population ratio of almost 4.0 per 1,000. As part of the overall reorganisation of the police,
2028-610: The police during the late 1980s. The police increased the use of part-time, specialised personnel – such as the special constables (called kitskonstabels (instant constables) in Afrikaans ) – to help quell the growing violence in the 1980s. In 1987, for example, the police recruited almost 9,000 kitskonstabels and gave them an intensive six-week training course. Most of these constables were Blacks and Coloreds . These "instant" police assistants were then armed with non-lethal weapons and assigned to areas of unrest, which were often
2080-415: The police extraordinary powers to quell unrest and to conduct counterinsurgency activities. The Police Amendment Act (No. 70) of 1965 empowered the police to search without warrant any person, receptacle, vehicle, aircraft, or premise within one mile of any national border and to seize anything found during such a search. This search-and-seize zone was extended to within eight miles of any border in 1979 and to
2132-419: The police were also authorised to serve as vehicle inspectors, postal agents, and local court personnel. After President Frederik Willem de Klerk lifted the ban on black political organisations and released leading dissidents from prison in 1990, he met with the police and ordered them help end apartheid, to demonstrate greater political tolerance, and to improve their standing in black communities. Through
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2184-668: The police were unable to deal with a hostage crisis at the Israeli embassy in Johannesburg, and the outbreak of the conflict in South West Africa, stretching the demand of COIN operatives. Finally, authorization of creating the Specialist Task Force was given, following multiple recommendations, and the issues described beforehand. This unit is still in action in modern-day South Africa. Formed in 1992 in
2236-732: The recruitment of black police personnel, formed a civilian riot-control unit that was separate from the SAP but worked with it, developed a code of police conduct agreed upon by a number of political parties and communities, and substantially increased police training facilities. In 1992 Kriel began restructuring the SAP into a three-tiered force consisting of a national police, primarily responsible for internal security and for serious crime; autonomous regional forces, responsible for crime prevention and for matters of general law and order; and municipal police, responsible for local law enforcement and for minor criminal matters. He also established police/community forums in almost every police station. In 1995,
2288-420: The run-up to the 1994 South African election following the end of Apartheid, 'Division: Internal Stability' were tasked with the important role of combating violence in the turbulent years leading up to and after the elections. The unit consisted of 41 divisions, and proved invaluable to preventing potentially thousands of killings during major political violence. During South Africa's rule under apartheid ,
2340-404: The service. The basic police training regimen includes courses in criminal investigation procedures, self-defense, musketry, tactical weapons training, drills, inspections, public relations and law. Specialized courses include crowd and riot control, detective skills, horsemanship and veterinary training, and advanced-level management skills. Their basic training lasted 6 months. During the time of
2392-491: The title SA Police . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SA_Police&oldid=896109662 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages South African Police The South African Police ( SAP )
2444-456: Was discontinued in 1933, because South Africa had become independent as a member of the new British Commonwealth , and it was replaced in 1937 by a special South African issue of the medal. From 1923, the SAP also had its own long service medal, which doubled as a medal for gallantry. The medals available to the SAP between 1923 and 1963 were thus: Until 1952, they were incorporated into the British honours system. Thereafter they formed part of
2496-601: Was distributed by Citizens for foreign aid reform throughout Canada in 1988. In the summer of 1988 the US-produced film Red Scorpion was made on location in South-West Africa ( Namibia ). South Africa helped finance the movie and the SADF provided trucks, equipment as well as extras. The action-packed movie was a sympathetic portrayal of an anti-communist guerrilla commander loosely based on Jonas Savimbi ,
2548-553: Was involved in a series of events involving state-sponsored terrorism . This included overseas bombings, burglaries, kidnappings, assassinations and propaganda during the apartheid era . In the late 1970s, Craig Williamson had inveigled Lars Eriksson, director of the International University Exchange Fund [ sv ] (IUEF) in Geneva , into employing him as deputy director and help in
2600-468: Was named in a South African court for Palme's murder, as were three others: Anthony White, Roy Allen and Bertil Wedin . No South Africans were ever charged with the Palme assassination (nor was anyone else, but Christer Pettersson , who was convicted, then acquitted on appeal). Williamson was one of the main collaborators with Peter Worthington in the anti-militant video The ANC method - violence which
2652-475: Was peaceful in the moment leading up to the shooting. Evidence given to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1998 suggested "a degree of deliberation in the decision to open fire" by the police. In 1983, the SAP formed C1, a counterinsurgency unit commanded by police colonel and former Koevoet operator Eugene de Kock . C1 was run out of a secluded farmhouse called Vlakplaas until 1992. It functioned as
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#17327757494892704-400: Was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the de facto police force in the territory of South West Africa ( Namibia ) from 1939 to 1981. After South Africa's transition to majority rule in 1994, the SAP was reorganised into the South African Police Service (SAPS). The South African Police were the successors to the police forces of
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