Towards Ethical and Effective Policing in the South African Police Services' Crime Prevention Environment

The South African Police Service (SAPS) is a vital public law enforcement and crime prevention entity responsible for maintaining a peaceful and progressive society. Principally, the crime prevention fraternity of the SAPS requires ethical and professional conduct. This mandate is nonetheless tainted by unethical conduct. The study is guided by Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, which centres on how an individual's perception of what is moral determines how they behave in certain organisational and societal contexts. The study, being qualitative in nature, relied on an extensive review of purposively selected written documents, which were then analysed using content and thematic analysis. The study established that the role of the crime prevention activities of the police service is cardinal in creating liveable societies in South Africa. The article makes recommendations to strengthen the SAPS' crime prevention efforts and also to deal with unethical conduct in its crime prevention environment.