POLICE handling of the Pick ‘n Pay strike was true to classic South African police policy, “If in doubt, panic,” said a British academic specialist in criminal justice and member of the South African Police Services international training team.
Mike Brogden also said the style of crowd dispersal used at Pick ‘n Pay stores indicated a breakdown of command and control. “Orders were not given clearly and there were no instructions to use minimum force, which the police handbook stipulates,” he said. “Traditional practice here has been maximum force.”
In 20 stores across the country, police used physical force — including dogs, stun grenades and rubber bullets — triggering accusations of overkill and complaints by strikers of inadequate warnings.
Brogden said police in Britain rarely used force against strikers or demonstrators. Instead the practice was a step-by-step escalation, starting with an attempt to negotiate the dispersal of a crowd and moving to “intimidation by superior presence” — outnumbering the demonstrators. The next step was the selective arrests of ringleaders by “snatch squads” specially trained in subduing without inflicting serious injury.
“The British approach is to go for individuals, not mass attacks,” he said.
If a mass offensive was ordered, batons were used and it was practice to ensure an escape route for demonstrators to avoid cornering them. Three warnings were given by loudhailer over a five to 10-minute period.
Brogden said that in an attempt to de-emphasise military instruction and drill, the SAPS was revamping its training system. “Ideally, officers will be taught to negotiate rather than confront.”
Reacting, Reef police spokesman Colonel Eugene Opperman said negotiation had been successfully used to disperse Pick ‘n Pay strikers at many stores.
“The fact is that often we are not operating under European conditions,” he said. “Some of the strikers were armed to the teeth with iron rods and sticks; managers were held hostage; a shop floor was set on fire. In Britain policemen are hardly ever physically attacked — here so many have been killed.
“We don’t interfere in industrial disputes. We only get involved if a crime has occurred and we are called by management.”