Drones, more police deployed to combat crime after murder of five-year-old

Policing will be strengthened north of Pretoria following the recent and devastating murder of a five-year-old in a hijacking.

The police ministry on May 14 deployed a stabilisation team to flush out criminality in Soshanguve, Reitgat, Loate and Mabopane after the areas have recently been heavily impacted by violent crime.

Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele, revealed that a team of Crime Intelligence, Detectives, Flying Squad, K9, Rapid Response Teams coupled with Private Security and Community Policing Forum, Tactical Response Team (TRT), National Intervention Unit (NIU) and Public Order Policing (POP) crime fighters would be involved in the fight against crime.

Cele said drone units of the police would also avail their tools to combat crime from the air.

Police spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said the team would be deployed for three months and supported by over 60 vehicles.

In his address to the team, Cele urged community members to come forward with information to assist investigations and called on officers to be tough on crime.

He said the national intervention is a response to the concerns raised by community members during a crime prevention Imbizo hosted by Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale three weeks ago.

“We will not tolerate any form of criminality in our communities,” he said.

He said it is their job as the government to ensure residents in the townships are safe.

ALSO READ: Police doing everything possible to catch suspects after five-year-old boy is murdered

“We will not tolerate any form of criminality in our communities,” he said. pic.twitter.com/kl5T7PNUde

— Pretoria Rekord (@RekordNewspaper) May 15, 2024

Cele said a lot of the women in the area have been on the receiving end of crime.

“There needs to be change after we have left here. Young people need to be able to walk alone without being scared,” he said.

“We cannot turn houses into prisons where people lock doors at 18:00 because crime has taken over.”

He encouraged police officers to do their job effectively and protect the area.

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Cele said the officers should go hard against criminals who fight back.

“Police officers are not here to see who is right and who is wrong. Their job is to make sure that the lives of criminals are difficult,” he added.

“We will take over the streets, hunt down and take out these ruthless criminal gangs that killed the five-year-old boy and the thugs who terrorise residents through crime.”

National Police Commissioner, Fannie Masemola, said they will evaluate the progress the team makes on a weekly basis and make changes where necessary, depending on the crime patterns.

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