Gauteng residents have been promised more visible policing, more roadblocks and improved 10111 call centres as part of an intensive new crime-fighting strategy to be implemented over the next six months — although an analyst has pointed out that parts of the strategy look like “more of the same”.
Provincial minister of community safety Firoz Cachalia launched the new strategy at a press conference on Tuesday — and The Star quoted him as saying: “I will definitely resign if I come to the conclusion there was something I should have done but was not doing. I promise to do my bit.”
Other measures that will take effect immediately include improved 10111 call centres, targeted deployment of police officers in specific areas, and renewed efforts to remove illegal firearms from communities.
“While this strategy seeks to achieve an immediate reduction in crime in Gauteng, we are also in the process of finalising a long-term strategy for sustained and substantial reduction in violence in the lead-up to 2010,” Cachalia said.
South Africa hosts the Soccer World Cup in 2010 and concerns have been raised about high levels of violent crime in the country.
House and business robberies, vehicle hijackings, cash-in-transit heists and taxi violence in Gauteng will now receive particular attention. Police will also increase efforts to track and apprehend the province’s most wanted criminals, Cachalia said.
‘Positive step’
Antoinette Louw, senior research fellow of the crime and justice programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), told the Mail & Guardian Online on Wednesday that the new plan is a “good thing and a positive step”.
“In the light of recent events in Gauteng, it is critical that there is a strong statement from the government on starting to deal with crime. I also think it is good that the strategy has a six-month short-term component on policing but also a long-term strategy on reducing violence … you have to have both components,” Louw said.
Short-term intervention is important to gain public confidence, she said, and the plan also acknowledges that dealing with crime is a long-term issue. “I am pleased to see all of these elements.”
An important part of the crime-fighting plan is community involvement.
“It is important to highlight that we all have a role to play to reduce crime in our province. No matter where we live or what our backgrounds are, criminals are our common enemy. We cannot allow those who harm our communities to get away with impunity. They are a minority and can be stopped,” Cachalia said.
Residents will be encouraged to join community policing forums, report all crime to the police and join the police reservists.
“A particular pillar is to dramatically increase the contribution of all sectors of society in the fight against crime. To achieve this, we will launch a ‘Social Movement against Crime’ in Gauteng,” he said. “This movement will increase awareness and seek to change attitudes in a manner that empowers ordinary people to take action to improve the safety of their community.”
Confidence
However, said Louw, public confidence in the police is very low at present, adding that the much-publicised recent Jeppestown shoot-out — in which 12 people died, including four police officers — made the public question how much police have the situation under control.
“Police communication on crime over the last couple of weeks has been fairly limited,” she said. Public relations need to be improved, and police should communicate better with the public before expecting residents to join the fight against crime.
Regarding the 10111 emergency call centres, Cachalia said the province’s six centres each receive about 80Â 000 calls a month, of which up to 30% are hoax calls that slow down response time. There are plans to centralise the service and improve staff training, and construction of a seventh call centre is under way.
Louw praised these call-centre improvement plans, saying rapid police response in the light of recent robberies in the province is crucial.
The new crime-fighting plan also addresses railway safety. Police reservists are being deployed on trains, and this initiative has already started to show results, Cachalia said.
“We will be monitoring the roll-out of this strategy on a regular basis to determine its impact on the abovementioned crimes and overall community safety in the province,” he said.
Still, some question marks remain around the strategy. “In many cases, it does look like more of the same,” she said.
Despite new and positive strategies included in the plan, such as the targeted deployment of police to combat “specific crimes in particular areas”, Louw said it is important for monitoring and assessment purposes six months down the line that police inform the public what these crimes and areas are.
It would have been useful to show links between the strategy components and the list of crimes that will receive attention: How, for example, would these steps combat house robbery?
“For the strategy to be something we can look back at and measure, there should be much clearer links [between these aspects],” Louw said.
She also pointed out that the strategy’s aim to achieve an “immediate reduction in crime” seems too general; the list of crimes to receive attention omits rape, domestic violence and child abuse, for example, which require very different interventions.
The new anti-crime strategy will be presented to the Gauteng provincial executive at its next meeting.