At the forum’s annual general meeting, station commander of the Douglasdale Police Station, Brigadier Leon Kruger said in the month of October there had been a 30 percent reduction in crime. Robbery with firearms had decreased by 71 percent, hijackings had decreased by 50 percent and house robberies decreased by 33 percent.
He mentioned that Diepsloot, Honeydew, Midrand and Sandton were named as four of the six high-crime stations in Gauteng, which geographically formed a horseshoe shape around Douglasdale Police Station.
Captain Fritz Kriel reported back on the arrests that have been made by Douglasdale police during October. He said they have dealt with numerous assault common cases, which have mainly been cases of domestic abuse for which 34 people have been arrested. In October two people were arrested for rape, three were arrested for illegal possession of firearms and 124 people were arrested for crimes such as loitering and illegal trading.
Major-General Oswald Reddy addressed the meeting and said policing, law enforcement and the criminal justice system could not reduce crime in South Africa alone, because crime was a social problem which was orchestrated, created and caused by human beings.
“We need to look at crime fighting holistically,” he said. “We have to effectively and efficiently utilise the resources that we have for maximum impact.” At the meeting the Douglasdale police announced the formation of a new tactical team at the station which will be focused on raids and operations in the precinct. The new team will utilise a donation of five new vehicles from Auto and General.
Tom Creamer of Telesure, the holding company of Auto and General, explained that the vehicle donation was Auto and General’s way of participating in the community, creating jobs and supporting crime fighting. Creamer promised that the donation would not be a once off and his company would continue to get involved in helping the community.
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