In 2010 amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act were made in order to better enable police officers to use force and deadly force in their dealings with dangerous criminals.
Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act, after the amendments made in 2010, now states that the police may use force in order to arrest you if a clear attempt has been made to arrest you and you continue to resist arrest or flee. The force must be reasonably necessary and proportional to the circumstances to overcome your resistance or to stop you from fleeing.
Section 49 states that the police may use deadly force to arrest you if you pose a threat of serious violence to the police officer or to any other person at any time, not just during the attempted arrest, or if you have committed or are suspected on reasonable grounds of having committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious bodily harm to a person and there are no other reasonable means of effecting the arrest.
Capt Eddie Hall states that eMalahleni’s police force will engage suspects with a reasonable amount of force in line with legislation should need be.
It is very important to note that section 49 does not state that you must pose an immediate threat of serious violence to the police officer or to any other person in order for the police officer to be allowed to use deadly force.
The wording of this bill purposefully omitted the word “immediately” to allow police officers to shoot at, and potentially kill fleeing suspects, who on the grounds of the crimes they have already committed can be reasonably said to be dangerous to society.
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The bill allows police officers to shoot a suspect even if the police officer’s life or bodily integrity is not at stake.
Criminologist Dr Johan Burger stated that 325 police officers had been killed in South Africa over the last four years whilst on duty.
Annually, that measures up to about 81 police men and women losing their lives whilst trying to protect the citizens of South Africa.
When asked when eMalahleni’s police officers will resort to using any amount of force, Capt Eddie Hall stated
“in line with section 49, the police officers will engage force ranging from the minimum to the maximum, which is deadly force, depending on the situation and what amount of force is required to achieve the desired result”.
When questioned about the shooting of rubber bullets during protest action, Capt Eddie Hall stated
“the police officers will arrive at the scene of the protest and clearly tell the crowd to disperse and state that they are part of an illegal gathering. Should the crowd not disperse, eMalahleni’s police officers may make use of teargas, water cannons and/or rubber bullets in order to break-up the protestors. If protestors pose a threat to the safety of other protestors, civilians, private or public property; the police will shoot off rubber bullets into the crowd in order to protect those interests.”
On the fatal shooting that took place last week in Bronkhorstspruit, Capt Eddie Hall said,
“the minute a suspect fires off rounds at police officers, the police officers will respond by shooting back. The suspect is already attempting to murder the officers, and the exact proportional reaction to such a shooting is to open fire in response”.
