In Brief... Containing South Africa's Crime Problem
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.)
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: September - October 2000
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
