50 new cars for Gauteng cops
MINISTER STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF VISIBLE POLICING
Vehicles handed over during national youth crime prevention summit.
Police Minister Bheki Cele handed over 50 cars to police at a ceremony in Centurion on Thursday. The vehicles, all high-performance Volkswagen Golf GTI 7s, are part of the province’s visible policing strategy. They will be used by the Flying Squad to increase police presence.
They are already operational, with Cele calling for them to “be visible at every on- and off-ramp”.
The minister presented the vehicles to the Gauteng provincial commissioner during the national youth crime prevention summit in Centurion this week. It was aimed at increasing youth participation in the fight against crime.
The minister told the 800 delegates at the ceremony that youth were an integral part of society and also in the prevention of crime.
However, criminology expert Andrew Faull, in assessing Cele’s plans, was recently critical of the visible policing strategy.
“The idea that general visible policing will make South Africa safe is appealing but not supported by evidence,” said Faull.
“Rather, policing is most effective when directed at specific places [hotspots], people [gangs, for example], and crimes [murder, cash-in-transit heists, and street robbery].”
Youths from all nine provinces attended the summit. –