David Bruce
I am a South African independent researcher & writer specialising in crime and criminal justice with focuses including policing (particularly the use of force), violent crime, addressing corruption in South Africa, the role of victims and witnesses in the criminal justice process and others. Over recent years the main focus areas of my work have included the Marikana massacre, public order policing (with some related work on police transparency), corruption in South Africa and the violence/crime prevention potential of a South African public employment programme, the Community Work Programme (CWP). Prior to working as an independent researcher I worked for a South African NGO the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), and my work tends to be linked to the NGO sector including work for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) as well as work with CSVR. From 2017 onwards I have been presenting a module on 'Public Security" at the School of Governance at the University of the Witwatersrand. Over 2016-2018 I have been a member of a panel of experts established by the Minister of Police in terms of the recommendations of the Marikana Commission of Inquiry. My work is informed by an interest in social justice.
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require accountability for the use of force internally.
and POP officials as well as available evidence regarding the use and abuse of this equipment, the regulatory framework governing the use of equipment, and provisions regarding accountability. The concluding section notes key points of comparison and provides recommendations.
of the SAPS. This report focuses on describing and understanding the events at Scene 2.
Drafts by David Bruce
Papers by David Bruce
conclusions about what had happened at the second massacre site, commonly referred to as Scene 2, at which 17 of the fatal shootings took place. While these events are now the subject of an investigation by police oversight and criminal justice agencies, we cannot assume that this will reveal the truth about the killings at Scene 2. To add to our understanding of the events at Marikana, this article analyses statements from the injured and arrested strikers taken by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate in the five days immediately after the massacre. This article examines data from the statements, and the circumstances in which these statements were taken, in order to
interrogate the assertion that ‘strikers were shot by police while surrendering or injured at Scene 2’. It concludes that, taken as a whole, the statements are a reliable source of information that some of
the strikers at Scene 2 were indeed shot while surrendering.
Notable here is the likely impact of these wages on the households of participants, including on their children and intimate partner relations. Whereas the CWP may have a beneficial impact on children in a household, there appears to be the potential that the CWP may aggravate the risk of violence, particularly for female participants who have unemployed partners. The article argues that if the crime prevention potential of the CWP is to be optimised, this motivates for providing ‘gender training’ to participants who may be at risk of intimate partner violence. In addition, limited male participation may reinforce a pattern of male exclusion, motivating for increasing the participation of men within the CWP.
Directorate workshop on "Establishing a cordial relationship between the police, ICD and
civil society: problems and prospects", Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria, 6-7 February 2006. The paper argues that making the oversight agency the focal point for lodging complaints against the police and the the key organisation responsible for investigations is therefore essentially counterproductive.
require accountability for the use of force internally.
and POP officials as well as available evidence regarding the use and abuse of this equipment, the regulatory framework governing the use of equipment, and provisions regarding accountability. The concluding section notes key points of comparison and provides recommendations.
of the SAPS. This report focuses on describing and understanding the events at Scene 2.
conclusions about what had happened at the second massacre site, commonly referred to as Scene 2, at which 17 of the fatal shootings took place. While these events are now the subject of an investigation by police oversight and criminal justice agencies, we cannot assume that this will reveal the truth about the killings at Scene 2. To add to our understanding of the events at Marikana, this article analyses statements from the injured and arrested strikers taken by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate in the five days immediately after the massacre. This article examines data from the statements, and the circumstances in which these statements were taken, in order to
interrogate the assertion that ‘strikers were shot by police while surrendering or injured at Scene 2’. It concludes that, taken as a whole, the statements are a reliable source of information that some of
the strikers at Scene 2 were indeed shot while surrendering.
Notable here is the likely impact of these wages on the households of participants, including on their children and intimate partner relations. Whereas the CWP may have a beneficial impact on children in a household, there appears to be the potential that the CWP may aggravate the risk of violence, particularly for female participants who have unemployed partners. The article argues that if the crime prevention potential of the CWP is to be optimised, this motivates for providing ‘gender training’ to participants who may be at risk of intimate partner violence. In addition, limited male participation may reinforce a pattern of male exclusion, motivating for increasing the participation of men within the CWP.
Directorate workshop on "Establishing a cordial relationship between the police, ICD and
civil society: problems and prospects", Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria, 6-7 February 2006. The paper argues that making the oversight agency the focal point for lodging complaints against the police and the the key organisation responsible for investigations is therefore essentially counterproductive.
requests were submitted on behalf of the two projects, 19 to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and four to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. The article starts by discussing police
transparency in South Africa, information on the policing of protest that the SAPS routinely publishes in its annual report, the PAIA framework, and some of the limitations of the projects. It then focuses on
insights into SAPS information on levels of protest and protest-related violence in South Africa that emerged from the two projects. This includes information disclosed by the police regarding their use
of force during protests, and police accountability for this. The article concludes by reflecting on the implications of and lessons from these exercises in police transparency.