In a show of polished concern at the latest crime statistics, the politicians wrung their hands and the commissioners mouthed euphemisms. Anti-apartheid struggle veteran, author and police reservist Andrew Brown must have grimaced.The numbers are horrible, but Brown’s book Good Cop, Bad Cop amplifies the harrowing reality behind the data, underscoring what ordinary South Africans know: we live in a riven society, racked with violent crime — and our police force cannot cope.Brown portrays SA’s fraught fabric vividly in chapters such as "Township Blues". He was one of three — just three — policemen sent to start a police "service" in the dangerous Cape township of Masiphumelele, after sustained violent protests. He courageously commences solitary foot patrols, and his poignant prose captures township life: the hardship, heartbreak, and resilience of this tightly packed humanity with whom he forms a mutual bond of respect in spite of the colour of his skin — and uniform.He is also fort...
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