ALTHOUGH the summer holidays are a time of celebrating with our loved ones, we must bear in mind it is also a time when opportunistic criminals strike.
As we approach the festive season, local police have rallied their forces to embark on ‘concentrated and intelligence-driven operations’ to ensure that the communities are kept safe and peaceful during the holiday period.

W/O Leon Audh, spokesman for the Greenwood Park SAPS, said the station planned to increase its manpower and start with high-impact operations.

“During the past weekend, members have already made numerous arrests for drug possession, drunken driving and dealing in liquor without a liquor licence, among others. Members from other stations in our cluster will also be working in the area together with our members and specialised units such as the Durban Flying Squad, Durban K9 Unit, tactical response teams, Durban Metro Police, RTI, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Justice,” he said.

According to Audh, new recruits, as well as reservists, will be joining their forces in the field to increase manpower and visibility.

Police, he added, will concentrate on specialised daily operations involving roadblocks, bank monitoring, business and residential monitoring, blue light patrols, foot patrols, stop-and-searches as well as observation of hotspot areas.

Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the Durban North station, said they would be focusing on the beaches and the shopping centres in the area.

“We will be increasing our patrols along the beaches and the malls, especially on Christmas Day, the Day of Reconciliation, Boxing Day (Day of Goodwill) and New Year’s Day,” he said.

Deokaran urged the public not to carry unnecessary valuables with them or to leave them in their cars.

“At this time of the year, when people go to the beach, they tend to leave valuables, such as laptops, cameras, cell phones and sunglasses in their car, thinking they would be safer, and then they are stolen from the vehicle. If you are not going to use them at the beach, leave them at home,” he said. He warned that criminals often have ‘spotters’ who search the vehicles for valuables.

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