Undercover operation cleans streets

Captain Fritz Kriel of the Douglasdale police, who was the brains behind the operation, explained that Douglasdale police officers had gone undercover dressed as civilians for a full week before the operation.

“Our officers were stationed at intersections around Fourways, familiarising themselves with the illegal hawkers and also keeping an eye out for suspicious-looking people,” he said. Kriel explained that the Fourways area had been experiencing a lot of smash and grabs at intersections and having plainclothes police stationed at the intersections had helped to curb the problem.

The operation saw plainclothes police officers apprehending hawkers, while Metro police confiscated their goods and fined or arrested them. Numerous hawkers on Witkoppen and Cedar roads who were peddling snacks, beads, wooden slats, patches of grass and firewood were fined and their items were confiscated.

Police also inspected the paperwork of food truck operators on Roos Road but found all their documentation to be in order.

At the Broadacres Shopping Centre two hawkers saw the police cars arriving and ran off, only to chased down by officers from Douglasdale, who apprehended them both and brought them to book.

Many of the vendors expressed sadness and fear at having their goods confiscated. “They [Metro police] have confiscated my things before while I was trading in the same place,” a vendor who was trading on Cedar Road said. “We are not working. I just need some money for food and rent.”

Captain Kriel explained that while the purpose of the operation was to clean up the streets by picking up illegal hawkers, the police also had a responsibility to educate traders on by-laws and proper procedure while using minimum force.