Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Thursday urged researchers to contribute towards reducing violent crime in South Africa.

Speaking at an Institute for Security Studies Conference in Muldersdrift, Mthethwa said that researchers could play a critical role in researching the reasons behind violent crime.

"There are many developing nations with economies bigger or smaller than South Africa that do not have the level of violence that exists in South Africa. We would expect researchers to probe this aspect," he said.

He said that police also needed to communicate their arrests to the public. The failure of police to communicate their successes did them no favours and contributed to a poor public perception.

He said that the confidence of new recruits needed to be inspired by their commanding officers. Too often recruits' enthusiasm for a career in the police was destroyed.

"We want young people to want to become police officers, we do not want their spirits dampened by corrupt police officers."

He said that police still needed to address the issue of policing in rural areas. Police stations tended to be located in cities and towns, leaving rural residents at the mercy of criminals.

He said that a major challenge was to rid the country of illegal firearms.

In the fight against drugs, he said that there needed to be more focus on transnational crimes.