“A POLICEMAN should not die with his gun in his hand,” Bheki Cele, South Africa's police chief, proclaimed recently at the funeral of yet another slain officer. “Your job,” he told mourning colleagues, “is to arrest criminals and if someone makes your job difficult, make sure it is not you that will be killed.” Over the past five years, more than 100 officers a year on average have been gunned down. The situation, Mr Cele declared, has become “a national crisis”.

The police death toll in a country that sees itself as the most civilised in Africa is indeed shocking. But the tally of civilians killed by the police is even worse. Last year 566 South Africans (out of a population of 50m) were killed “as a result of police action”—up by half over the previous six years. Most were suspects shot dead during arrest (there seems to have been little attempt to incapacitate them); 16 were innocent bystanders. Seven suspects were tortured to death. South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of recorded homicide by police.

But then South Africa is also one of the most criminally violent countries. With around 50 murders, 100 rapes, nearly 400 armed burglaries and over 500 violent assaults recorded every day, it is not surprising that as many as eight out of ten South Africans feel unsafe walking in their own districts after dark. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, the murder rate has fallen by half to 34 per 100,000 inhabitants every year. But that is still seven times higher than America and 27 times higher than Britain. It is perhaps no coincidence that South Africa ranks among the world's top 20 countries for gun possession.

Sometimes the coppers are applauded for their toughness. But many South Africans are also appalled by their apparent trigger-happiness. Earlier this year Andries Tatane, a respected community leader in a black township in the Orange Free State, was shot dead after a scuffle with police during a march protesting against the lack of basic public services in the area. He was not armed. The incident was broadcast live on national television—which is perhaps why eight of the policemen involved have been arrested and charged. On-duty officers responsible for killings almost always get off scot-free.

South Africa's minister of police, Nathi Mthethwa, has vowed to combat what he calls a “recent upsurge” in the number of police being killed—55 since the beginning of the year. In fact the death tally has fallen sharply since black-majority rule in 1994 when 265 officers were killed, dropping to 178 in 2000 and 93 last year. So why the sudden fuss?

Perhaps to divert attention away from the police's own abuses. Since January 2009 some 768 criminal cases have been filed against the police, including 516 charges of assault, 50 of murder, 94 of rape and 71 of sexual assault. Such statistics, Mr Mthethwa felt obliged to agree, were “appalling and disgusting”. Over the past decade the government has more than doubled its spending on the police, boosting numbers by half—with some positive results. Overall crime rates are down from their peak eight years ago. But, as Mr Cele has himself admitted, many of the recruits are of a low standard. As a result, what was already a poorly trained and equally poorly paid force has become even less prepared for the job.