The police will intensify compliance inspections at all police stations and service points in a bid to continuously improve service offering to communities, said the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.
‘Our responsibility as a police service is to keep all people living in South Africa safe and as the South African Police Service we will continue to act without fear, favour and prejudice to realise this vision,’ said Masemola.
The Commissioner addressed the media in Johannesburg on Thursday.
‘The SAPS remains at the coalface of the criminal justice system, and it is upon our members to ensure that the work that they do continues to inspire confidence in the system,’ he said, adding that the police’s ongoing operations are yielding the desired results.
This as the police is continuously implementing an ‘all hands-on deck approach’ that leaves no one behind.
‘It is a joint effort working closely with other law enforcement agencies, other government departmen
ts, the business sector, our community police forum structures and private security.
‘At the heart of it all, lies our communities. Through community participation and through the tip-offs that we continue to receive, criminals are feeling the heat. There is no longer much room and space for criminals in all provinces including KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Western Cape and [the] Eastern Cape to operate because that space has been squeezed,’ Masemola said.
According to the Commissioner, ongoing takedowns and the arrests of wanted suspects is sending a firm and stern warning to all criminals that police are hitting the ground running and that the men and women in blue will continue to sniff out criminals.
‘We do believe that we are registering progress in destabilising the work of organised crime syndicates as well as ruthless criminals in all forms and shape.
‘Since our last briefing four weeks ago, 85 000 more suspects have been arrested for various crimes ranging from murder to rape, kidnapping and extortion.
This brings the total number of suspects arrested since the launch of Operation Shanela to 850 375.
‘During this period, 824 illegal and unlicensed firearms with more than 17 282 rounds of ammunition [were] seized,’ the Commissioner said.
Extortions
Regarding extortions, the SAPS is working hard to bring an end to extortion related crimes.
He added that communities should report these crimes to police.
‘We have developed an Extortion Action Plan and thus far, we are pleased with the manner in which this plan is being implemented throughout the country. As management, we are particularly encouraged with how our police officers are addressing the crime of extortion across all provinces that have been identified as hotspots.
‘We are following up on tip-offs and information shared through our hotlines and crime stop number. We are fetching each of these extortionists, one by one,’ he said.
In the past two weeks, 14 extortionists were shot and killed during confrontation with police in various provinces.
T
he most brazen of these alleged extortionists were in the Eastern Cape in Mthatha where three followed and tailed the National Intervention Unit (NIU) members to their base.
‘Our members had been conducting stop and searches in Mthatha during tracing operations and had earlier confiscated firearms from these alleged extortionists. These extortionists indeed got what they were looking for. They shot at our police officers who were ready to defend and assert the authority of the state.’
READ | SAPS to ‘deal decisively’ with extortionists
Masemola said the crime of extortion requires a specialised investigative capacity and that is why police have deployed specialist teams led by the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), crime intelligence and organised crime units to lead these investigations.
Source: South African Government News Agency