Deadly force to apply to police only, MPs told
Publish date: 22 February 2012
Issue Number: 2980
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: Labour
Parliament's Justice Committee has been told that proposed changes to the law governing the use of lethal force under section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act should apply only to police officers making an arrest and not to private individuals acting in self-defence, says a Business Day report.
It notes at issue is when police can use deadly force to prevent a dangerous suspect from escaping. General Tertius Geldenhuys, commenting on the public submissions, said yesterday that he was concerned some of the earlier submissions wanted the law to apply to both police and private individuals. He explained that the way it was drafted, it applied to a specific purpose, and that was a police officer making an arrest to secure an appearance in court. The rules governing how private people could apply lethal force were covered by the common law. He said the amendment was an important measure which defines the 'threshold that must be crossed before force can be used'. Full Business Day report
