Cops vow cash heist crackdown
Crack units will be re-equipped and sent out onto the streets
● This year there has been a cash-intransit heist every day, on average, and it’s time to take the war to the criminals, says Police Minister Bheki Cele.
The rate of heists so far this year has tripled since last year, and Cele says his new commanders at the Hawks and crime intelligence will lead the fightback. “[Those units] have been completely ineffective, spending more time defending themselves and living in court,” he said.
Among his plans are the re-equipping and revitalisation of specialised units, which he says are “in the barracks when we are under siege”.
Fidelity CEO Wahl Bartmann said the new approach was already apparent. “The police have a renewed sense of urgency which is leading to more arrests,” he said.
● Police Minister Bheki Cele has vowed to take specialised police units out of the barracks and put them back on the street to crack down on the dramatic increase in cash-in-transit heists across South Africa.
“Specialised units are in the barracks when we are under siege. No one will be in the barracks, they will be back on the roads,” Cele told the Sunday Times this week.
As private cash-transport companies spend millions of rands to battle the robbers, Cele plans to ensure that specialised units are fighting fit to take on the gangs.
The companies are enlisting helicopters, heavily armed response teams and new technology to try to end the scourge, in which 43 vans have been blown up in the first five months of the year. Nine people have died.
“The issue has been the ‘killing’ of the relevant structures dealing with cash heists,” Cele said. “I have come across specialised units like the national intervention unit and tactical response team, who either have no equipment such as bulletproof vests and boots, [or they have] old outdated equipment, or [their] high-performance cars have been given to police station commissioners.”
Slamming the state of units such as the Hawks and crime intelligence, he said: “Let’s be fair. For the past six years there has been no head of crime intelligence. I don’t know if you can say if the Hawks had a head or not. They have been completely ineffective, spending more time defending themselves and living in court.”
Cele, introducing Advocate Godfrey Lebeya as the new Hawks head, said the naming of commanders to the Hawks and crime intelligence would revitalise the units. Specialised police units would be provided with the right equipment and put back on the streets.
Cele’s remarks follow the release of figures by the South African Banking Risk Information Centre showing that there have been 152 cash-in-transit heists since January, with 68 vehicles attacked on the road — more than three times as many as in the same period last year.
The banking organisation fears that if action is not taken quickly, by year-end the number of heists could soar above 700.
Cash-in-transit companies say the police must continue to ramp up their efforts to deal with the heists. “Their [the police] renewed involvement is welcomed,” said Fidelity Cash Management Services CEO Wahl Bartmann.
“Units like the special task force, which were primary in dealing with the attacks that occurred several years ago, suddenly stopped. Fortunately they are back. The police have a renewed sense of urgency which is leading to more arrests.”
Fidelity, which delivers the country’s pension payouts, has lost 12 vehicles to bombings so far this year. “It’s war out there. Those behind this are well-trained, heavily armed and deadly,” said Bartmann.
Like South Africa’s other cash management companies, including SBV Services and G4S, Fidelity is ramping up the training and protection of its staff.
Bartmann said there had been a shift from “cross-pavement” attacks — in which robbers strike while the cash is being moved into or out of buildings — to attacks on moving vehicles.
Sabric’s statistics show that between January 1 and May 31 last year there were 85 cross-pavement attacks, which dropped to 58 for the same period this year.
The centre said in the first five months of last year 21 cash vans were attacked on the road. In those attacks five vehicles were blown up. In the first five months of this year 68 vans were attacked on the road.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa and the Motor Transport Workers Union will launch protests this month over what they say is a lack of regulations around the training and protection of cash guards.
Bartmann said Fidelity was spending an additional R4.5-million every month to provide better protection for its guards, including helicopter support.
“With technology we are upping our game and looking at using live-streaming cameras on the vehicles.
“We have spent R97-million upgrading and replacing our fleet to fend off these military-style attacks.”
Bartmann said it was worrying that so few culprits were arrested or convicted.
SBV Services CEO Mark Barrett, whose company has had four cash vehicles bombed this year, said the security of its guards went beyond vehicle technology.
“It comes down to the people and their training.”
The company looked at international trends to try to ensure it stayed ahead of criminals.
SBV supported the unions’ calls for regulations around minimum training standards, he said.
“Cash-in-transit heists have escalated dramatically. It’s a crisis the industry cannot solve on its own. Addressing these attacks calls for broader co-operation, including with the police and unions.”
Barrett said there had been a dramatic improvement in assistance from the police. “The help we get now has made us much more upbeat.”
G4S spokeswoman Wendy Hardy said the safety of staff was paramount. “We roll out new security features all the time and use technology to make it more difficult and dangerous for criminals.”
G4S had employed its own investigators who worked closely with police and other cash-in-transit operators.
Sabric CEO Kalyani Pillay said the fact that there had not been that many arrests last year had an impact on the increase in heists. But she said it was encouraging that the police had stepped up their efforts.
It’s war out there. Those behind this are well-trained, heavily armed and deadly. Wahl Bartmann Fidelity Cash Management Services CEO