As south africans are becoming increasingly concerned about the critical role of the police in enforcing the rules that regulate life in our country, or the lack thereof, a growing interest is also developing in the characteristics and behaviour of police personnel. the ability of police members to fulfil the responsibilities of upholding the standards of society and of imposing its penalties may depend upon their personal values, personality and activities. hence, the examination of those factors along with such matters as police recruitment and socialisation is an important prerequisite to the investigation of police practices. without an understanding of the attributes of law enforcement personnel and the way in which they affect the performance of law enforcement duties, it is difficult to appreciate the broad implications of police actions in the maintenance of social order. according to rothmann and storm (2003) it is important to have a productive and healthy police force that serves as a contributor to the economic growth in south africa. eber (1991) re-examined several large-scale studies done on law enforcement candidates. he collected data in respect of more than 15 000 police candidates. the main measures were the two parts of the clinical analysis questionnaire (caq) (krug, cattell & ipat, 1980) where part i consists of the 16 personality factor questionnaire scales, and part ii consists of 12 measures of psychopathology. the most striking finding was the clear personality profile of law enforcement candidates in the united states. their personality profiles were characterised by a strong pattern of low anxiety, control and tough poise. lorr and strack (1994) administered the same instrument and used cluster analysis to examine the personality profile of police applicants. cluster analysis consists of grouping objects based on their similarity in certain characteristics, and creating certain subgroups or clusters. the aforementioned study revealed the existence of two different personality profiles. the majority group, very similar to what eber had described as “good policemen” (eber, 1991), was characterised by a high level of self-control, independence, extraversion and emotional stability (low neuroticism). the second group, similar to eber’s “bad policemen”, did not differ much from the aforementioned group in terms of independence, however, they did manifest a low level of control, introversion and a much higher level of anxiety. both of the abovementioned studies came to the same conclusion, namely, that there are some personality characteristics which apply to successful candidates in the police force