Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
It is disturbing that there are so many mentions of "police brutality", the Mail & Guardian's poster: "Mthethwa, Minister of Police Brutality" (March 15), is a case in point.
"Brutality" is a word that cannot fail to evoke a visceral response: those who perpetrate it are bad. Applied to a broad group such as the police, it portrays them as the potential enemy of the people. The frequent use of the word can create such a picture in the mind.
Does it help our society if it builds such an image?
It is often said that the reason for the negative image of our police force in the eyes of the broader public is the fact that the majority viewed them as the enemy during apartheid, when the enforcement of apartheid laws, plus the attitude of some white policemen, led to such a perception.
Since South Africa became a democracy, however, with a massive change in the leadership structure of the police as well as a different approach to policing, it would have been hoped that this would have led to increased trust of the police and co-operation with the public.
This appears not to be the case. The reasons may be many and not all of them are historical.
It concerns me, though, that the use of the word "brutality" and the media's inclination to focus on this issue not only engenders a distrust and a fear that is not necessary or useful, but also blocks out the many ways and times when the police do safeguard and serve the public in both preventing and solving crimes.
I would hope that a voice such as the M&G's would take responsibility for the message it disseminated before it uses words that themselves increase the spectre of violence. – Roger Graham, Cape Town