A contextual approach to post-shooting trauma in the South African Police Services

Abstract

In this article post-shooting trauma is utilized as an arbitrary punctuation to indicate how police officers communicate their distress during this period of rapid transition in South Africa. It is argued that the medical model (with its attendant lineal causal explanations and descriptions) is inhibitively limited in describing what police officers are presently experiencing. The author motivates the advantages of perceiving and describing events from an ecosystemic perspective (which provides a contextual understanding and emphasizes relationships} . "Stress" is described as an aspect of the system as a whole and not singularly attributable to individuals alone. Among others new policing rules and roles, the turnover in personnel, and the rate of's'ocio-political changes are shown to contribute. It is argued that the Police, as society's guardians of "power" have become the "symptom bearers" for a society in the painful process of adapting to change. Recommendations regarding possible interventions are made.