SAPS stakeholder meeting addresses many concerns
House burglaries are on the rise and the public is warned to be vigilant.
Brakpan SAPS held their monthly stakeholders’ meeting at the Mardi Gras Theatre at Carnival City last Wednesday.
Lieutenant Colonel Peet van der Schyff provided the crime overview.
He said during the last month, house burglaries increased drastically, especially in Brakpan North and the CBD, with some house robberies occurring in Dalview.
General theft increased across Brakpan and robbery with other weapon cases increased across town.
Although a few dog poisoning cases were reported to SAPS, security companies and CPF volunteers noted a lot of dogs poisoned in the last month. Most of these cases lead to break-ins.
The SAPS is looking into shutting down suppliers that sell unauthorised poison frequently used in these cases.
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Cable theft is becoming an increasingly serious problem, and the SAPS urges scrap dealers to stop buying stolen copper cables.
SDS Protection, which has a contract with the City of Ekurhuleni to guard substations and patrol electricity lines where cable theft frequently occurs, has limited resources.
“We must all, as different entities, unite to solve these problems. We are the contracted security company, but the power outages from cable theft affect us all,” the group agreed.
A rising trend among cable thieves is to dig trenches during the day, claiming that the municipality contracts them, and then return at night to remove the cables.
They requested the public to report all suspicious digging to the SAPS, even if crews show documentation, as the documentation may be fake.
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Other than theft of infrastructure and robberies, the overall crime statistics look good compared to the same period last year.
They mentioned a case of juveniles being arrested for stealing cables. These juveniles had to be released into the custody of their parents due to proper procedures not being followed.
To prosecute minors for scheduled three or higher offences, the police need to process them according to the Children’s Act upon arrest.
The juveniles have to be detained in a registered place of safety under the care of a registered social worker, where they await their court hearing and apply for bail.
The attendees at the meeting noted frustrations with how limiting this act is regarding prosecuting minors for serious offences.
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The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), SAPS and AfriForum, will work together in the future to find ways to meet the requirements for prosecuting minors.
They also discussed illegal mining, where they noted that the SAPS do frequent operations and made a lot of arrests.
New illegal miners only replace the arrested ones the next day, making this an uphill battle. They plan more operations and collaborations, along with investigations to get ahead of the problem.
It was also noted that surveillance cameras along the R23 are now fully operational. These monitored surveillance cameras allow for the successful prosecution of crime and reckless driving in the area.
Also mentioned at the meeting was the issue of large funerals in public spaces with accompanying public intoxication, reckless driving and discharging of firearms. The SAPS are working on finding ways to enforce by-laws.
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The EMPD noted most of their resources are going towards officers stationed at intersections to direct traffic during peak hours and load-shedding.
The attendees requested them to investigate vehicles dangerously passing other vehicles into oncoming traffic, especially on bridges and blind turns.
The security industry reported to the meeting they are getting a lot of false alarms due to the effects of load-shedding on security alarm systems. This is adding a strain on their personnel on patrols. They asked CPF and SAPS to aid in patrols.
Emergency services complained about the drastic increase in motorcycle accidents involving delivery drivers and an increase in cases where emergency services personnel are robbed at gunpoint of their equipment and belongings.
The SAPS and EMPD promised to engage with emergency services about these issues to find solutions.
Station commander Brigadier Fredl Jonck closed the meeting with the following advice regarding civilians assisting in medical emergencies, “You may not be trained and able to assist medically, but you can help people to be comfortable and safe in a medical emergency. It’s common sense as a human being to care and attempt to help.”
