Mofokeng Acta Criminologica: Southern African Journal of Criminology Special Edition No 5/2015: Criminology in democratic South Africa: Coming of age ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 34 AN EXAMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING INVESTIGATING OFFICERS’ RETENTION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE Jacob Mofokeng 1 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT In recent years, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has experienced increasing levels of staff turnover, especially within the Detective Service environment. The problem is compounded by experienced detectives, who have been the core of the Detective Service’s operations for years, and who retired, as well as those who have been recruited by the private sector. Before the Detective Service can determine which retention strategies to be initiated, it is critical to know the specific reasons why detectives are leaving the SAPS. As the SAPS seeks to find the causes for attrition, officials must have an integral role in the process. One of the most important areas to clarify in this phase is to ask detectives what is important to them and their opinion of why employees are leaving. Thus, the purpose of this article is the examination of factors influencing Investigating Officers’ (IOs) retention in the South African Police Service. Keywords: Investigation, retention, turnover, withdrawal, workload, South African police officers, detectives ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION While personnel planning has always been an essential part of police management, the dynamic nature of the contemporary work force environment suggests greater attention is required to ensure it is evidence-based and best meets the needs of individual departments within the law enforcement agencies (Wilson, 2014: 78). Despite the volatility of the environment, such as budgetary constraints affecting personnel planning, some concerns remain consistent or at least recurring. One such concern is retention of skilled investigating officers (IOs) within the South African Police Service (SAPS). The economic downturn in South Africa and elsewhere in 2008 mitigated this problem for many, since resources shrunk and retention strategies became out of reach. Therefore, strategies for retention must be an integral part of a police organisation’s workforce management approach. Understanding the forces that cause attrition can assist police managers in envisioning longitudinal goals for an organisation (Brunetto, Teo, Shacklock & Farr-Wharton, 2012: 428-441). Challenges confronting the retention of IOs therefore, call for an evidence-based and methodical approach to personnel management that involves assessments of staffing need, allocation of staffing resources, distribution of staff attributes and qualities, recruitment, retention, and opportunity costs and implications of implementing personnel management strategies for the Detective Service. The focus of the present article is on one such concern, retention of detectives in South Africa. It synthesises research about promising practices for retention, focusing on empirical studies, to identify lessons on retaining police personnel. It firstly explains what is known about various strategies, drawing on the policing literature by highlighting the effectiveness of these strategies. Secondly, the findings, based on the views of detectives, are provided on the factors that affect retention within the SAPS, followed by recommendations based on the best practices learnt from the literature study. For simplicity, the concept “investigating officer” or “detective” will be used interchangeably in this article. This review can assist Human Resource Practitioners (HRP) and Detective Commanders within the SAPS (hereafter referred to as police practitioners) to be more aware of such ________________________ 1. Dr. Associate Professor. Department of Safety and Security Management, Faculty of Humanities, Tshwane University of Technology. Email: mofokengjt@tut.ac.za