Criminal elements infiltrate police

[caption id="attachment_65823" align="alignright" width="300"] NOT AMUSED: General Riah Phiyega has slammed the report as malicious - Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN[/caption]

Investigation finds that syndicates are active within the SAPS ranks

Criminal syndicates have infiltrated police ranks in South Africa, a damning report by two national institutes has claimed, following an indepth investigation.

This was described as one of the “most frightening and important” findings of the probe, which catalogues cases of officers being linked to a string of serious crimes.

Police top brass lashed out at the report only hours after it was released, saying that while there was criminality within the police, it wrongfully implied that all police officers were rapists and murderers.

An independent security studies researcher has, however, agreed with the findings.

The report, released by the SA Institute of Race Relations (IRR) and AfriForum, comes after the organisations embarked on an investigation into the extent of police involvement in criminality.

It focused mainly on officers being implicated in violent crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery.

The findings of the report were based on 100 incidents of alleged police involvement in perpetrating serious and violent crimes nationally.

- Gareth Wilson