To serve and protect?

The elections are over and the promises are a thing of the past.  All reverts to the usual rich get richer and the poor remain just that, poor.  We live in hope, without much hope, but still hope.  South Africa is a country apparently striving for an international status.  A huge amount of our income is earned through tourism.  Tourists arrive in South Africa with enthusiasm and quite often leave enraptured by the magic of the country as long as their holiday is crime free.  They struggle to believe that crime is as prevalent as we say it is.  Crime is to South Africa as tea is to England.  It is often horribly violent, violating and motiveless.  One has to be streetwise in this country. One has to have an eye open at all times.  It is the way we live.  If a crime is committed one can only hope that the police arrive and if they do, do their job properly.  The police are underpaid and under-staffed, their vehicles old and their stress levels indescribable due to being subjected to huge case loads and psychological trauma on a daily basis.  People working in this type of environment are disenchanted, demotivated and lack pride in their profession.  I am sure there are police men and women who take pride in their jobs, but I have yet to meet one.  In my town, it is a known fact that the police often simply do not arrive and if they do, unacceptably late.  An incident occurred about five hundred metres away from the police station in which a lady was stabbed repeatedly in the hand and arm and her bag stolen.  The ambulance was called and arrived five minutes later from a few kilometres away, but the police, who were five hundred metres away, took forty-five minutes.  Why? The excuse given at the time was a shift change, forty five minutes before it was actually supposed to change. When I approached the station commander to bring this to his attention, I was subjected to bureaucratic babble. I walked away furious and I suddenly realised that because our crime rate is so high, apathy has set in and the people who should serve and protect simply don't care or can't care. Can't care because they have burnt out and have seen too much. Corruption is rife because salaries do not cover basic expenses, the suicide rate unacceptable. What do we do as citizens of this country if our police force can't help us? I dread to think about an eventuality where I may need help because the bottom line and the track record unfortunately proves that I may not get it.