Measured Governance? Policing and Performance Management in South Africa
| Date | 01 May 2016 |
| Published date | 01 May 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1750 |
MEASURED GOVERNANCE? POLICING AND PERFORMANCE
MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
ANDREW FAULL*
University of Cape Town, South Africa
SUMMARY
The nineties were a period of mass reforms in South African policing. Within a few years of its transition from apartheid to de-
mocracy, the South African Police Service (SAPS) had developed a performance measurement tool based on the New York
CompStat system. Such tools have been praised for their apparent effectiveness in reducing crime but scorned for the pressures
they place on police officers. This article demonstrates that the SAPS’Performance Chart has framed the police as crime
fighters, giving little to no regard for community relations or police legitimacy. While organisational rhetoric emphasises
police-community relations and police professionalism, these are absent from the targets by which police are assessed. The
unintended consequences were clearly demonstrated when angry residents of Khayelitsha in Cape Town successfully lobbied
for a Commission of Inquiry into the failures of policing in 2012. The scandal showed that despite good intentions, the intro-
duction of the Chart has not produced effective, democratic policing. On the contrary, the resulting pressure to ‘perform’can
and has promoted police practices that erode community trust in and cooperation with police. For the SAPS, this is particularly
true in the absence of a measure of public confidence or of feelings of safety. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
key words—South African Police Service; SAPS; South Africa; CompStat; performance measurement; policing; police
legitimacy; Khayelitsha Commission
INTRODUCTION
Performance measurement systems have become integral to the management of large police agencies around the
world. Based on the CompStat model developed by the New York Police Department in the early nineties, they
involve the regular collection and analysis of performance data with the aim of understanding and improving effec-
tiveness and efficiency measured against predefined targets (Neyroud and Disley, 2007).
In 1998, 4 years after the African National Congress swept to power in South Africa’s first multi-racial election,
the South African Police Service (SAPS) began developing its own CompStat-like measurement tool, the SAPS
Performance Chart (the Chart). The move came as the SAPS sought to distance itself from its previous incarnation
as the enforcer of apartheid’s racist laws and to position itself as a professional, apolitical, evidence-based police
agency.
On paper, the Chart is an example of a well-designed performance measurement system. An international
review by the RAND Corporation lists the SAPS Chart as an example of good practice in police performance man-
agement (Davis, 2012). The SAPS is the only police agency located in a middle-income country with high levels of
violent crime, mentioned in the report. But it is also the only agency mentioned in which torture has been linked to
resulting performance pressures.
More than two decades into the ‘new’South Africa, the SAPS finds itself in a difficult position. In 2013, 53% of
South Africans thought ‘all’or ‘most’of the country’s police were corrupt (Wambua, 2015), and in 2015, only
57% were satisfied with the police in their area (Statistics SA, 2015). Gains made through progressive reforms
*Correspondence to: Andrew Fa ull, Cent re of Crimin ology, Un iversit y of Cape Town , Cape Town 77 00, South A frica. E-mail:
andrew.faull@uct.ac.za
public administration and development
Public Admin. Dev. 36, 157–168 (2016)
Published online in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pad.1750
Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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