Police officers are sometimes frustrated by their powerlessness in the face of major crime problems in South Africa. They realize resources are scarce and the scale of the crime problem is significant. Nonetheless, the South African Police Service is undergoing change to overcome prior abuses associated with apartheid. The basic debate among police officers, however, is not how to go from apartheid-style policing to a more community-oriented, human rights-based approach but rather whether their approach should change at all. Efforts are being made to properly train police officers and to upgrade the skills and competencies of police detectives, and the hope is that proper training will improve police work attitudes and morale and contribute to more effective police crime prevention. 1 photograph