Germiston Flying Squad serves with dedication

The Germiston Flying Squad aims to serve and protect the community.

The 103-member strong team is housed on the premises of the Germiston Police Station and works in six shifts which includes officers, administrative and support staff.

The team is excited as last week they took delivery of three new vehicles to add to their existing fleet.

The three VW Golf 7 DSGs are high performance vehicles, and fleet manager WO Thupane Kgoale said they will go a long way in helping the flying squad keep vehicles on the road 24 hours a day.

“They will make it easier to respond to crimes, and as they are high performance vehicles they are suited to our environment,” he said.

The GCN sat down with Const Ntombikayise Ngcobo, the communications officer for the Germiston Flying Squad, on Thursday, to learn a bit more about the Germiston Flying Squad.

Ngcobo said that the flying squad concentrates on more violent crimes which include hijackings, house robberies and business robberies.

They also patrol the N3, N12 and N17 highways with their highway patrols, to which they have dedicated vehicles.

The highway patrol officers are dedicated to promoting safety on the highways, hold stop-and-searches of suspicious-looking vehicles and assist the community where needed.

“One of the main indicators of a suspicious-looking vehicle is that the driver will be driving recklessly,” Ngcobo said.

When officers are out on patrol in their policing area they mainly find stolen or hijacked vehicles and people in possession of drugs.

The Germiston Flying Squad covers 23 police stations, including Germiston, Elsburg, Primrose, Bedfordview, Springs, Tsakane, KwaThema, Dawn Park, Boksburg, Boksburg North, Katlehong, Thokoza, Zonkizizwe, Katlehong North, Brakpan, Alberton, Brackenhurst, Heidelberg, Duduza, Dunnottar, Eden Park, Vosloorus and Nigel.

“We have a large area to cover but we work with other law enforcement agencies and the community and we do cover our entire area,” Ngcobo said.

“Apart from patrols, we also work on tip-offs, and stations request our assistance on scenes, as well as calls to 10111.”

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When an officer comes on shift, he/she will be posted to his/her area to conduct patrols.

“They need to watch out for suspicious activity and listen to the police stations in their patrol area via the scanner so they can assist their stations by attending to complaints.

“When a call comes in via 10111 they will be dispatched if it is in their area,” she said.

“We know where every vehicle is so it is easy to send them to complaints speedily.”

With regard to the 10111 number, Ngcobo said that often crank calls are received.

“We urge the community to stop making crank calls as it pulls valuable resources away from real cases,” she said.

“Often we find it is school children who are making these calls during school holidays or after school, and on weekends and in the evenings it is often adults who are drunk.

“This is a waste of our resources and criminal charges can be laid against those people who make prank calls.”

Ngcobo said the members deal with about 50 cases a month which are split between patrols and call outs, apart from assisting stations at many crime scenes under the stations’ jurisdictions.

“We as employees of the SAPS regard truth as being of utmost importance, acknowledge the diversity of the people of South Africa and will assist all with respect and to the utmost of our abilities.

“We will treat all people equally and uphold the law at all times,” Ngcobo said.