Police vow to clamp down on crime with festive operation
POLICE are clamping down on crime this festive season with officers being deployed in all corners of the Eastern Cape, including shopping malls, crime hotspots, beaches and roads.
This was a promise from Eastern Cape police commissioner LieutenantGeneral Liziwe Ntshinga during the official launch of the safer festive season anti-crime operation plan.
The programme was launched on Wednesday in Mbewuleni in Dutywa, the village where former president Thabo Mbeki was born.
Ntshinga, who formally handed over the plan to safety and liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana, issued a warning to would-be lawbreakers.
“If you are arrested now, forget about Christmas because you will be in jail.
“Our operational plan is mostly focused on preventative actions, which will ensure that come this festive season criminals do not get a foot in the door or succeed in tormenting law-abiding citizens in our province,” she said.
Included in the plan will be intelligence-driven operations aimed at preventing house and business robberies, cash-in-transit heists, vehicle hijacks and car and stock theft.
Emphasis will also be on the distribution of resources to ensure increased police visibility to fight contact crimes like murder, rape and other crimes perpetrated against women and children, including domestic violence.
Highway patrols on the province’s main routes and towards popular tourist destinations, particularly along coastal towns and cities, will be conducted.
“The success of our operational plans will furthermore depend on good execution and monitoring and therefore senior managers from the provincial office will be deployed.”
Ntshinga said the operations will be carried through up to next year, adding that for the plan to succeed, communities and ordinary citizens would have to play their role as well.
“We request the community to work with us and not to hide criminals in their midst but to report their actions and locations to the SAP.”
She said they had chosen Dutywa for the launch to show the police’s commitment in fighting crime in rural areas, which were also experiencing high levels of crime, including stock theft.
She argued that there was usually a high demand for stock for slaughtering purposes around this time of the year, something criminals often exploited to their own advantage.
Focus will also be on liquor traders, especially those who are suspected to be selling alcohol to underage children.
Ntshinga also told those in attendance they had decided to rope in police detectives so cases were properly investigated to ensure criminals are convicted.
“But in order to achieve this, we need people to come forward and testify in courts,” she said.
Meanwhile Tikana, who also handed over 14 new vehicles to the police, appealed to communities to stop buying stolen goods and urged parents to ensure they never go to bed without knowing the whereabouts of their children.
The event also saw the official launch of a moral regeneration outreach programme, which is a partnership between the police, Mbhashe municipality and a non-governmental organisation called Imbokodo YabaThembu Women’s League launched two years ago. —