The South African Police Service has lurched from one scandal to the next … in the past few years, including the high-profile arrest, trial and conviction of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi in 2010 for fraternising with a convicted drug dealer and crossing the line into his criminal world. This was followed by the dismissal of Selebi’s successor Bheki Cele – for his involvement in a dodgy multi-million-rand lease deal.

Senior officials in the SAPS Crime Intelligence Division have been accused of squandering millions of rands from the police slash fund. Crime intelligence officers have been accused of tapping the phones of investigative agencies, such as the Hawk. A crime intelligence officer’s firearm was used to murder a king of sleaze.

Included in this toxic morass is the police shooting of thirty-four striking miners, the killing of service deliver protestor and two incidents of men being dragged behind police vehicles, one of them beaten to death by police thugs.

Liza Grobler shows how police corruption and criminality exist in police organisations throughout the world and that this varies only in extent and the determination of leaders to deal with the problem. The SAPS has a distinct disadvantage. The last three national police commissioners have been political appointees who did not understand the complex organisation.

In this timely and wide-sweeping book, Liza Grobler explains and attempts to understand police criminality – what crimes they commit, and what need to be done to fix the problem.

This book’s only focus is on the crooks and criminals within the SAPS