Perturbed by the crime levels in and around the Vaal region, the police national Commissioner, Bheki Cele and Gauteng provincial Commissioner, Perumal Naidoo directed an operation geared towards tackling lawlessness in the area.
The three day intense crime prevention activity begun on Thursday, 29 October and lapsed early morning on 31 October 2009, comprised road-blockades, targeted localities of suspects plus stop and search actions by police.
The operation dubbed ‘When Duty Calls’ included in the main students undergoing second and third training phase. The idea of involving the students is to equip them with practical policing training. This orientation, happening under the guidance of police management proved to be of treasure to students.
Cele visited Emerald Casino which was a scene of robbery in September this year. He randomly interacted with business managers and proclaimed to shoppers at Vaal Mall that the police were determined to “squeeze criminals out of shopping centres”. The dwindling bank robberies coupled with lessened cash-in-transit heists were not by coincidence but policing tactics which were now directed at forcing out outlaws from malls. “With information gathered covertly, police will be deployed in numbers to curb crime at points or areas of concern”, he added.
An upbeat Cele engaged drivers and commuters alike at the Bophelong taxi rank. He stressed that the abuse of women and children is not permissible and police will continue to be decisive in dealing with perpetrators. His declaration was in retort to complaints that police were apt when called to incidents of women battering.
The total deployment of members for this operation was 50 378 vehicles and one chopper. Mentioned hereunder are results yielded by the operation carried out with Gautrans, Johannesburg Metro Police Department and Emfuleni traffic officials:
* drunken or disorderly conduct: 292 arrested
* driving under the influence of alcohol: three arrested
* possession of drugs: seven arrested
* theft of motor vehicle: two arrested
* house breaking: seven arrested
* illegal possession of firearms: one arrested
* armed robbery: two arrested
* house robbery: four arrested
* business robbery: one arrested
* possession of stolen goods: one arrested
* road traffic offences: 48 arrested
* reckless and negligent driving: one arrested
* contempt of court: one arrested
* malicious damage to property: three arrested
* vehicles recovered: two arrested
The impact of the combined operations, namely intelligence driven operation and police visibility was of great success as there were less reports of incidents within the Sebokeng cluster.
Issued by: South African Police Service
1 November 2009
