Region B will be embarking on a special operation on 21 and 22 March in Auckland Park, Melville, Richmond, Melville Koppies, Albertville and Westdene.
The operation will target illegal connections of electricity in shops, vehicles parked on sidewalks and checking compliance within businesses on the first day.
The second day will be dedicated to deal with vagrants in Auckland Park, Melville, Melville Koppies, Richmond and Albertville.
Members from Brixton, Sophiatown and Parkview police stations will attend the operation together with JMPD and the Displaced People’s Unit (DPU).
Residents and businesses always benefit from visible policing and law enforcement, according to Ward 87 councillor Amanda Forsythe,adding that she is pleased this operation is taking place.
“What this area needs, and this is true for the whole of Johannesburg, is regular, visible policing and law enforcement by all these departments on a daily basis. We have to stop this reactive approach and only responding when things reach crisis proportions,” she said.
According to Forsythe, the operation is a multidisciplinary effort, including departments like the DPU, which is responsible for working with people living on the streets of Johannesburg.
The unit finds people; find out what kind of assistance they need, such as shelter, rehab, medical assistance, work, repatriation, money to return to their families in a distant province, help them get the support they need and much more.
“JMPD and SAPS are there to provide support to the DPU and to deal with the criminal elements that often hide out among the people living on the streets such as drug dealers, thieves and spotters for crime syndicates,” she added.
The SAPS is also the only body that is mandated by law under the Mental Health Care Act to remove the mentally ill off the streets and transport them to a public hospital where they can be assessed, treated and possibly referred to a psychiatric institution where they can get the help they need, according to Forsythe.
