SEKHUKHUNE – The minister of police, Mr Nathi Mthethwa and the national commissioner Gen Riah Phiyega, officially launched the 2012/13 Duty Calls festive season operations to ensure a safer Christmas holiday season for all, on October 12.
The launch was held at Jane Furse in the Makhuduthamaga local municipality, which is one of the five in the Sekhukhune district.
Mthethwa said that Duty Calls Operation, which was previously launched in September, would continue until the end of January. “Our main objective is to call upon all South Africans to partner with the police in fighting the scourge of crime. This year’s operations will build upon the previous year’s lessons and successes. We will also increase high-visibility patrols at all tourist destinations, especially along the coastal cities,” said Mthethwa.
“Our approach and operations are focused around aggravated robbery, including house and business robbery, cash-in-transit heists, as well as ATM bombings. We will also focus on social crime prevention operations, which includes contact crimes such as murder, rape and other crimes against women, children and the elderly,” he continued.
The launch was marked by the introduction of the province’s tracking team of 23 members, which is authorized to trace, locate and apprehend identified wanted suspects.
According to the SAP journal members, the team has a mixture of skills and had undergone a rigorous selection process which included psychometric, fitness and shooting tests.
The journal also states that since February, the team had traced 63 of the most wanted criminals in the province, among them 15 who were wanted for car hijacking, business robbery and house robbery. The team also traced 48 suspects for other serious crimes including ATM bombing, cash-in-transit heists and murder.
“Some of the 63 traced suspects were arrested while others were traced and found to be dead, in prison or awaiting trial,” reads the website.
Phiyega encouraged members of the police to work hard in reducing crime in the coming festive season because a job well done had its own reward.
