occasion of the official handover of South African Police Service (SAPS)
high-tech vehicles and the launch of the anti-truck hijacking unit and saps
mobile unit for the community of Diepsloot
12 February 2009
On 3 December 2008 we announced the launch of the Gauteng Aggravated Robbery
Strategy to combat armed robberies of residences, businesses and vehicles â
commonly referred to as the 'Trio Crimes.'
This multi-faceted strategy involves different key role-players working
together to achieve two main objectives:
1. To identify, trace, arrest and effectively prosecute as many perpetrators as
possible.
2. To close the space for perpetrators to operate in the province.
It is important to note that this strategy is part of our Provincial Safety
Plan adopted by the executive in 2006 which aims to:
* improve the quality of policing,
* mobilise communities in the fight against crime,
* prevent Crime, and
* establish an effective criminal justice system.
Today, I am proud to say we are wining in the fight against crime.
Since the Gauteng Aggravated Robbery Strategy was implemented in July last
year, we have clustered our 130 police station into 21 clusters - where
dedicated Crack Trio Task Teams have been established. To this end, we have
established a special task team of 15 members comprising seven from Crime
Combating Unit and eight specialist detectives. We take note of the fact that
this is not enough; hence we are working on increasing this capacity.
Improving the police's reaction times, especially when dealing with the
'Trio' crimes, is of vital importance. It is for this reason that today as the
Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) we are officially handing over 42 high
performance vehicles to the rapid response teams, in line with the promise
during the announcement of the aggravated strategy, last year.
We have invested more than R7 million on these cars alone - another 38
vehicles will be made available soon. These vehicles will ensure that our rapid
response teams are able to reach crime scenes quicker. These teams will be
responding to incidents detected by the surveillance cameras, among others. In
solid partnership with our partners from the financial services sector, we have
made significant investment in our information communication technology (ICT)
infrastructure to ensure that our surveillance system is ubiquitous in the
province.
Where a need arises, rapid response teams will work closely with the air
wing of the SAPS. Two helicopters are on standby, in Johannesburg and Pretoria,
on a 24-hour basis for this purpose.
The investment made has not been in vain, as we can already count some gains
against crime. Since the beginning of the year, close to two hundred suspects
have been arrested for an assortment of serious offences. A number of motor
vehicles (including buses and trucks) as well as firearms, ammunition,
explosives and goods - stolen from house robberies (i.e. cell phones, DVD
players, laptops and clothing) - were recovered.
The hijacking of trucks on our provincial roads contributes to the
escalation in business robberies and a promise was made, during the
announcement of the aggravated robbery strategy, to launch the anti-truck
hijacking unit. I am pleased to say that, we have delivered on the anti-truck
hijacking unit is now functional. This unit has already made some inroads in
arresting a number of suspects.
The arrest of 22 suspects that led to the recovery of four trucks, this
month alone, further vindicates our investment in 20 high-powered vehicles and
specially trained personnel for this unit.
Another promise we made was the establishment of mobile units in the under
serviced areas. In a nutshell, these are SAPS mobile stations that will fill
the policing vacuum created by the inaccessibility of traditional police
stations. Today, we will be launching a mobile unit for the community of
Diepsloot whose closest police station, Erasmia, is 16 kilometres away. The
distance (between the community and the police station) makes it difficult for
the residence to report crime as expeditiously as is required for a rapid
response.
Mobile units such as the one we are launching in Diepsloot will soon be
replicated in other parts of the province to efficiently combat crime and
improve the quality of policing. The roll-out of such units will be extended to
Braamfischer and in Zandspruit.
All these initiatives will undoubtedly add to the arsenal at the disposal of
our law enforcement agencies in Gauteng as we strengthen our efforts to tackle
priority crimes. We are committed to build a crime free Gauteng.
Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
12 February 2009
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za)
