Cops arrest 7 000 cops in past 5 years, says Cele

In the past five years, 7 000 police officials were arrested, Minister of Police Bheki Cele said yesterday.

“We are improving and covered the ground, especially in intelligence and overall the better coordination of intelligence of the specialised units and the better deployment to hotspots,” he said.

Cele said the police weren’t perfect. “In the last five years, 7 000 have been arrested of which only 680 have been found guilty. Those arrested were arrested by our police,” he said.

“Police are doing a good job, maybe that’s why our prisons were 44% overpopulated.”

Cele said parliament recently agreed that police use some of its equipment for interception and added that the improvement in technology has helped increase the efficiency of the police.

“In the past week alone, police have registered several successes, including the latest takedown of cash-in-transit heist suspects in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, in which four suspects were killed and three suspects arrested,” he said.

Cele said among those arrested was a wanted Mozambican linked to the murder of a police official, and a spate of car hijackings, robberies, and fraud cases.

“In Gauteng, a multidisciplinary team led by the Anti-Kidnapping Task Team rescued an 18-year-old Wits University student from a kidnapping syndicate on 20 September,” he said.

Cele said the syndicate targeted the LGBTQI+ community through a popular dating app.

“Police have broken the back of this particular kidnapping syndicate that has so far been linked to over 50 kidnappings, where ransom demands were being made.”

Cele said in August, seven suspects who kidnapped victims for ransom related to municipality tenders were arrested in the North West.

The clients were lured to a house to sign a contract/documents relating to a R17 million solar geyser project.

“The suspects, who were dressed in police uniform, were found holding the victims hostage and demanding an amount of R300 000,” he said.

Cele also said there was a criminal block that was part of the resistance against the police and policing work, especially that of Crime Intelligence by media and academics.

However, criminologist Prof Jaco Barkhuizen said there was no such thing as anti-police. “It was more like anti-trust in the police and the top management.”

He said it was commendable that SA Police Service celebrated its successes. “Like any success, it has to be measured against the things that have gone wrong,” he said.