Gauteng strategy for tackling crime
11 July 2006
Following the recent initiative taken by the national Minister of Safety and
Security, I together with the members of the Mayoral Committees responsible for
public safety at local government and senior management of the South African
Police Service (SAPS) and the metropolitan police departments would like to
announce the following strategy to strengthen our fight against crime in
Gauteng. This strategy will start to take effect immediately and will be
continued over the next six months.
The following measures will form part of the strategy to heighten police
visibility and impact on crime in throughout Gauteng:
* Increase mobilisation of police resources
There will be increased police visibility through among other measures, the
strengthening of sector policing throughout the province. Furthermore, plans
are in place to double the number of police reservists in Gauteng.
* Targeted deployment of police
The police will be improving their response to specific crimes in particular
areas. This will include where necessary, refining the modus operandi of the
police to ensure targeted and proactive responses to particular crimes.
* Increased roadblocks
The police will be increasing the numbers of road blocks being held
throughout the province to disrupt criminal activity and to improve safety on
the roads.
* Targeting key suspects
There will be increased efforts to track down and bring the most wanted
criminals in Gauteng to justice.
* Illegal firearms
Efforts to remove illegal firearms from our communities will be stepped up.
The numbers of firearms that have been confiscated and destroyed will be
announced to the public.
* 10111 call centres
Concerns have been raised about the 10111 call centres. Currently there are
six 10111 call centres in the province that each receive an average of 80 000
calls per month. As much as 30 percent of these calls are hoax calls that clog
the system and slow down response times. Steps are in the process to improve
the functioning of the 10111 call centres through centralising this service.
Construction of the new central 10111 call centre is currently underway. In the
meantime a training programme has been started to improve the skills of call
operators and supervision is being enhanced through the deployment of senior
commanders.
* Railway safety
To improve safety on our railways, steps have already been taken to deploy
reservists on the trains. This initiative has already started to show
results.
* Increased community mobilisation against crime
Further, measures will be taken to improve the relationship between the
police and the community. This will include measures to encourage people to
join Community Policing Forums (CPFs), to report crime to the police and join
the police reservists.
Alongside the above measures, police attention will be directed at reducing
the following crimes:
* house robbery,
* business robbery,
* vehicle hijacking,
* cash in transit heists,
* taxi violence,
* residential burglary.
We will be monitoring the roll out of this strategy on a regular basis to
determine its impact on the above mentioned crimes and overall community safety
in the province.
While the above strategy seeks to achieve an immediate reduction in crime in
Gauteng primarily through policing, we are also in the process of finalising a
long terms strategy for sustained and substantial reduction in violent in the
lead up to 2010. We will be presenting the Gauteng safety strategy to the
Gauteng Provincial Executive at their next meeting.
The Gauteng safety strategy will include a number of key pillars to improve
the quality of policing in Gauteng over the longer term and to strengthen the
social crime prevention capacity of provincial and local government.
A particular pillar is to dramatically increase the contribution of all
sectors of society in the fight against crime. To achieve this we will launch a
âsocial movement against crimeâ in Gauteng. This movement will increase
awareness and also seek to change attitudes in a manner that empowers ordinary
people to take action to improve the safety of their community.
It is important to highlight that we all have a role to play to reduce crime
in our province. No matter where we live or what our backgrounds are, criminals
are our common enemy. We cannot allow those who harm our communities to get
away with impunity. They are a minority and can be stopped. Each one of us can
do more to support effective and accountable policing by providing information
about criminal activity or joining our CPFs and the police reservists.
Together we can beat crime!
For more information contact:
Phumla Sekhonyane
Tel: (011) 689 3633
Cell: 082 909 3708
Issued by: Department of Community Safety, Gauteng Provincial
Government
11 July 2006
