The malice of global conflicts and conflicts between diverse ethnolinguistic groups makes language, now more so than before, a central issue within the state security apparatus. Police are at the forefront of law enforcement, making language and language planning an essential element of police communication. The centrality of language is more pertinent in complex multilingual contexts like South Africa. The sociolinguistic and discourse analysis of the security in South Africa makes an important contribution to policing to the extent that it adds social and linguistic dimensions, critical-theoretical and sociological approaches relevant to multilingualism, language policy and planning in security contexts over and above conventional security research, which, to date, has been ruled by psychological and anthropological approaches. As a result, this paper examines modes in which language and language planning can address security matters in a multilingual context, centering on the case of South Africa and the South African Police Services. The aim is to explore multilingualism in relation to security and to draw implications for sociolinguistics of policing studies, and vice versa the implications of security studies (and security, policy) for sociolinguistics and multilingualism. This paper builds on the restricted literature on the sociolinguistics of security and at the same time positions security at the nexus of sociolinguistics and multilingualism in South Africa. The paper asserts that while it is true, to an extent, that multilingualism increases security, the importance and value of multilingualism may be overstated particularly if language is regarded as disembodied practice. Unless multilingualism is embedded in other semiotic practices that enclose ways in which both historical and contemporary communication in security are framed, it will stay at the periphery of police communication.