Community Policing as a Panacea for Gender Based Violence Impasse

Abstract Among the many other crimes that flood South Africa, gender-based violence (GBV) is increasingly becoming a major problem facing the country. Studies have revealed that women and girls are much more likely to be victims, and, in most instances, the perpetrator is known to the victim. This crime has irrepressibly posed great threats to the human rights of women and girls, both locally and internationally, laying serious foundations for engrained progress on women`s rights. This study adopts a qualitative document analysis to examine the phenomenon and suggest a community policing approach—among other preventive policy recommendations—as a paradigm shift in strategy to resolve the crisis in South Africa as well as prevent the future occurrence of such a menace in the country. The findings highlight that the preponderance of criminal justice interventions has resulted in gender-based violence being framed as a problem of criminal law and procedure, police investigation, and appropriate counselling programmes for both victims and perpetrators. However, this approach emphasises amelioration rather than prevention. Hence, the need for community policing as a prevention strategy against gender-based violence. Moreover, this paper recommends the establishment of a stronger partnership and the continuation of seeking ways for closer cooperation between law enforcement agencies and communities for a better prevention of gender-based violence in societies.