Survey: Police trust drops to historic low
Public trust in the South African Police Service has reached an all-time low.
It's the finding of a study by the Human Sciences Research Council.
It released the results of its latest South African Social Attitudes Survey on Monday.
The series, which began in 2003, sees officials conduct face to face interviews in a social survey of people aged 16 and older.
They also use survey data on trends in confidence in the police, which they have found has declined significantly over the past two decades.
From 1998 to 2010, the average level of trust in the SAPS ranged between 39% and 42% in all but a few years.
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There was a sharp decline by 2013, following the Marikana massacre, but according to the HSRC - confidence had almost recovered by 2015.
Between 2016 and 2020, it ranged from 31 to 35 percent.
Confidence then dipped to 27% in 2021, with researchers believing it was linked to the social unrest in July that year.
It dropped by a further five percent in 2022 and has stayed around this level.
The HSRC said during the 27-year interval, a majority of the public never expressed trust in the police, suggesting that police legitimacy has been a longstanding issue.
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