Lessons from past will help fight crime scourge

WE KEEP reading or hearing that we, in South Africa, must take an interdepartmental or, in plain English, a combined approach, or partner with the community, in fighting the scourge of crime.

The people making these calls to rally in these crime battles are those in government departments.

There are those that go so far as to say we must unite as society to take back our streets from the criminals.

Now with this grim picture that is painted one would have thought that government would, as a matter of haste, have rushed to reform the gang and drug units, and the mobile and techie squad units to deal as specialists with specialised criminal as in the past.

The recruiting of new law enforcement officers seems to have failed at sufficiently stocking police stations to bolster visibility and crime prevention to deter criminals.

Every year the crime statistics are read and one would think that those in authority – from the ministers and top management – would become extremely serious about policing in South Africa and, in this seriousness, look back in the past to see what worked.

They should not look at what other countries are doing but, to ensure law and order in South Africa, see what has worked in the past.

Let us be honest, the only issues that get specialist police handling are strikes and public violence, usually because of poor service delivery or misbehaving taxi drivers.

I am really trying to remember when last I have seen checkpoints or roadblocks checking and searching motorists. In recent years, the focus has only been on taxis.

No wonder criminals are riding around with guns and ammunition . They know they are safe from searches.

The only time I can clearly remember such an action was when Cape Town was being bombed by extremists and terrorists. Why do I remember? Because I was an operational commander in Table Bay Harbour and was part of those checkpoints and roadblocks.

We need to get back to interdepartmental actions where all different departments – such as the police, local enforcement, customs, immigration, fire inspectors, Sars officials and even health – in unison, tackle the criminal elements in our communities.

We need to see that this is done as soon as possible and we need to see this happening in our midst – and if then, read about these activities in newspapers.

We also need to read more frequently about the justice dealt to local criminals and not only if they happen to be celebrities.

At crime statistic briefings, all the ministers and top management dealing with crime, law enforcement, traffic, customs, immigration and justice must give us, the voter and citizen, a united feedback on their combined actions so that we know criminals are being lawfully attacked within the confines of our laws, by laws and regulations.

This approach will encourage the community to join community structures, such as community police forums and neighbourhood watches.

To jump into a bullring alone is to be rewarded with a piercing horn. KEITH AA BLAKE Ottery