Policing in South Africa has a particularly violent history.

Police officers are confronted with a pervasive and dangerous cultural legacy of respect, discipline and authority, derived from the authoritarian practices cultivated during apartheid where paramilitary policing was used to maintain the state apparatus.

This cultural legacy breeds an environment of toxic masculinity that, when added to the trauma of coming into daily contact with violent crime, has the potential to filter through to intimate and interpersonal relationships. This accounts the growing trend in South Africa of police officers committing murder-suicides.

In the most recent case of this, a police sergeant shot his wife, and then himself, following an argument at the Hout Bay police station, reports News24.

“It is alleged that the sergeant’s wife visited the police station, where her husband shot and killed her during an apparent domestic dispute,” said Lieutenant Colonel André Traut.

The sergeant, 41, was on duty at the time of the incident. His wife was 36. A murder case and inquest docket have been opened, and the police station was closed to the public while officers dealt with the crime scene.

Hout Bay Community Police Forum posted the following update on their Facebook page:

They also shared their condolences for the families of the deceased:

Perhaps the first step to better understanding what happened should be a look at the lack of psychological support that police officers receive despite working in a high stress, high trauma environment.

When coupled with access to firearms, it can place them and their loved ones in danger.

[source:news24]