A report by the IRR reveals policemen in South Africa are arresting young women in order to rape them. IRR CEO Frans Cronje, pictured, called the findings 'disturbing'

A shocking report has revealed how large numbers of policemen in South Africa are 'regularly' arresting young women in order to rape them.

The 'Broken Blue Line' conducted by the Johannesburg-based Institute of Race Relations, investigated the extent in which police officers in the country plan and execute serious and violent crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery.

And it drew a disturbing conclusion: that police involvement in serious and violent crimes, including rape and murder, were a 'pattern of behaviour' and not isolated incidents.

The report, funded by Afriforum, analysed 100 randomly chosen media reports from April 2011 to January 2015 on alleged police involvement in serious crimes.

Of those, 32 were murders and attempted murders, 22 were armed robberies, and 26 were rapes, as well as other serious offences.

The results were compared against two sources of information on disciplinary action against police officers implicated in crimes.

The project has been undertaken by the IRR since 2011 to track police involvement in criminality.

In 2015, it found that officers exploit their official status and equipment to perpetrate crimes and rely on that status to escape arrest and prosecution.

Significant numbers of officers, despite being convicted of serious crimes, remain employed with the police

The most worrying aspect was that 'it is often with good reason that the public fear the police, especially with regard to sexual violence and rape perpetrated by officers against vulnerable women.'

In a number of incidents, the police officer used his authority to force the victims to submit to his demands.

In one incident, a woman was raped several times while in custody and in another, a woman was raped in court.

It is often with good reason that the public fear the police, especially with regard to sexual violence and rape perpetrated by officers against vulnerable women

Nine out of the 26 listed rape cases occurred in either police station cells or official police vehicles.

The report says in a typical case, a police officer would stop a young woman in a public place, before taking her away to be raped in the back of a police vehicle and then setting her free.

It found a 'significant evidence of a trend' where police officers detain women in order to rape them.

A 2011 version of the report had similar results, including a serious problem with sexual violence by police officers in a country which has one of the highest recorded rates of rape in the world.

And while South African Police Service management is attempting to deal with the problem, it is with limited success.

It warned that 'violent crime levels in South Africa won’t turn around while the "wolf guards the sheep".'

The report said a typical case involved an officer stopping a young woman in a public place, before taking her away to be raped in the back of a police vehicle. File photo

Pretoria News reported in July 2013, that almost 1 500 serving police officers had criminal records as shown on the table below – this is more than one in every 100 sworn officers

A report in Pretoria News in July 2013 said that almost 1,500 serving police officers had criminal records - which is more than one in every 100 officers in the country.

Violent crime levels in South Africa won’t turn around while the "wolf guards the sheep"

A two-year audit into the police service revealed there were even South African Police Service members behind bars who were paid monthly salaries.

The newspaper reported that the shadow minister of police, Diane Koehler Barnard of the Democratic Alliance, had said that the police were, in effect, admitting that their service was 'populated with murderers, rapists, fraudsters and other offenders'.

IRR CEO Frans Cronje said that the project is one of the most disturbing ever undertaken by his organisation.

He said: 'You would expect the police to safeguard society by infiltrating criminal elements.

'In our country there is much evidence that criminal elements have infiltrated the police.'