Abstract
D.Ed.
The research nature of this study was primarily explorative, and also
descriptive. The objective of this study was to explore and describe
community experiences of aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials
towards them. This research was of a qualitative nature. Four steps of
psycho-educational programme development were followed. In the first step a
situational analysis was carried out. The sampling component was
purposively selected police officials working under the jurisdiction of specific
police stations in Gauteng Province and community members as victims of
aggression at the hands of police officials.
Data gathering methods used in this research were phenomenological
individual and focus group interviews and observations. The researcher
conducted the observation for this study during interviews and field notes
were written during interview process. The researcher conducted interviews
with victims of aggressive behaviour by police officials and other participants
were police officials and stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate
behaviour of police officials.
The participants had to comment on their experiences of aggression exhibited
by police officials and other participants who are police officials in the South
African Police Service talk about their experiences when they were involved in
aggressive action towards the community. These interviews formed the basis
of this study to facilitate the attainment of the primary objective, which was to
explore and describe the experience of aggression behaviour exhibited by
Police officials towards the community.
The data from these interviews were analysed using an open coding method.
An independent coder did an analysis independent from the researcher. A
consensus validation discussion was held with the independent coder on the
codification of the data. The detailed discussion of results obtained from the interviews and observations were presented in verbatim quotes, descriptive
and reflective notes and the illustration of emergent themes and categories.
Rigour and adequacy were ensured by data collected and the results obtained
from data analysis indicated convergence and saturation. The integration of
trustworthiness, that is, credibility, transferability, dependability and
confirmability were applied throughout the study. Ethical considerations and
consent letters were presented to the participants, including preserving of
anonymity, confidentiality, voluntary participation, understood consent and the
ethical role of the researcher has adhered to.
The research is very important as the experiences of aggression by
community members were explored and described. The research results
indicated that there is tension among the community and police officials in the
South African Police Service. The Police officials under study are demoralised
and tend to become negative towards the public because they are of the
opinion that enough is not done to support them in performing their difficult
duties. It is evident from the results that there is lack of effective
communication stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate behaviour in
the South African Police Service with other structures like the Independent
Complaints Directorate.
In step two the psycho-educational programme was developed. Firstly a
conceptual framework was derived from the result of step one. The
conceptual framework served as framework of reference for the description of
a psycho-educational programme. In step three the programme was
implemented and in step four the programme was evaluated.
In conclusion, it is evident that aggression really exists in the workplace and
officials are affected by such aggression. The recommendations of dealing
with aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials towards the community
was done in line with the situational analysis after the conclusion drawn from
the findings and were described in a psycho-educational perspective.