South Africa exemplifies the malevolent effects of government on its citizens, and the need to transform the police force is evident as part of South Africa's history of apartheid. In particular, the culture of policing in South Africa should be transformed from a strictly public model to incorporate private policing sources. References to police culture have also been made in Australia and New Zealand where problems in policing are defined in terms of culture and police reform is assumed to require cultural change. One approach sees police culture as constituted by interaction between legal and political contexts of policing and police organizational knowledge, and such an approach provides a sophisticated and comprehensive understanding of police culture. Policing is viewed by some as not just a concern of but also an activity carried out by civil society. Innovative developments in the contemporary study of policing and police culture are noted. 16 references