Unmasking the blue line: An exploration of police sexual violence in South Africa

Abstract

Police sexual violence (PSV) is perceived to be widespread and underreported. The issue of PSV is rooted in a power dynamic, cultural, societal, and legal contexts, as well as police organizational and cultural issues. Based on the analyses of 258 newspaper stories of PSV covering the period between 2018 and 2024, this study examines the nature of serious PSV incidents in South Africa. The analyses documented 156 unique PSV incidents. Rape was the most frequent instance of PSV, followed by sexual assault and sexual harassment. More than half of PSV incidents are related to other PSV incidents. Fifty-one percent of the PSV incidents took place in either a police station or a police car. In 63% of the PSV incidents, the police officer was on duty. Ninety-nine percent of the police officers who engaged in PSV incidents were male, and 92% of the victims were female. Although citizens were primarily victims of rape, police officers were almost equally likely to be victims of rape and sexual harassment. Ninety percent of the PSV incidents were committed by a single police officer. There were about 1.54 PSV incidents per police officer. The majority of police officers were line officers, but supervisors were also engaging in PSV. Although a substantial proportion of the police officers were arrested, very little information was available about other aspects of the administrative or criminal process.