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Thin Blue: The Unwritten Rules of Policing South Africa

Several months before they exploded into xenophobic violence, Jonny Steinberg travelled the streets of Alexandra, Reiger Park and other Johannesburg townships with police patrols. His mission was to discover the unwritten rules of engagement emerging between South Africa's citizens and its new police force. In this title, Steinberg argues that policing in crowded urban space is like theatre. Only here, the audience writes the script, and if the police don't perform the right lines, the spectators throw them off the stage. In vivid and eloquent prose, Steinberg takes us into the heart of this drama.Jonny Steinberg was born and bred in South Africa. His previous two books won the Sunday Times Alan Paton Prize. Steinberg was educated at Wits University in Johannesburg, and at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has worked as a journalist on a national daily, written scripts for television drama, and has been a consultant to the South African government on criminal justice policy.

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 183
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781868423033
  • Genres
  • africa, crime
  • Release date
  • 2009