South Africa has the world's worst peacetime statistics for murder, rape and robbery. To add to the problem, the police forces there have a reputation for incompetence and corruption.
The start of a solution: Create a special force of "Untouchables" modeled on the special squad led by the legendary Elliot Ness, who combatted crime in Chicago during the American prohibition era in the 1930s. This has been done.
Among the minimum requirements for this new force, named the Scorpions, are a university degree and the ability to speak no less than four of South Africa's official languages. The final 100 recruits were selected out of 7,000 applicants. The main determining factors were integrity and intelligence.
Reporting journalist John Carlin summed up future prospects: "Whether the Scorpions will repay the faith invested in them cannot be assessed until a couple of years have passed, by which time their numbers should have swollen to 2,000." ("Sting in the Tail," by John Carlin, The Independent on Sunday, July 23, 2000.)
