Crime-fighting gadgets to hit Gauteng soon, says premier

“These drones can capture the direction of a bullet,” Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said of the crime-fighting gadgets expected to be deployed in the province on April 1.

Suburbs, townships, businesses and schools can expect to see hi-tech face and car recognition tools such as CCTVs, drones and even panic buttons.

The crime-fighting project was announced by Lesufi at the State of Province Address on Monday.

“We should unleash all our resources at our disposal to tackle crime. To this end, we are increasing our budget for fighting crime from R750-million to multi-billion in the next three years.”

Lesufi said Gauteng residents would be armed with e-panic buttons linked to law enforcement agencies, CCTVs and a new state-of-the-art integrated command centre.

The Gauteng government was also spending R173-million to recruit 6 000 crime prevention wardens as well as procure 10 drones, 50 vehicles and 500 000 panic buttons among other tools.

He said the province would also be equipped with two new helicopters at the beginning of the next financial year. The private security industry had pledged to add other air support to the pool of helicopters that patrolled the 11 municipalities’ skies.

“Four additional helicopters within the 2023/2024 budget cycle will be added,” he said.

“To ensure that our police are not sacrificial lambs in the battles with criminals, we are at an advanced stage to procure 180 state-of-the-art drones that will infiltrate areas that are difficult to patrol and police.

Other crime-fighting tools include:

– 400 new police cars by May 1 so that every ward in the province will have a 24-hr patrol car.

– 6 000 recruits to monitor and police Gauteng 24/7, from May 1.

– 10 000 private security companies, under a joint command structure will fight crime in the province.

Mamelodi and Soshanguve were just two of the areas in Pretoria which have been earmarked for a mass roll-out of 24-hour manned CCTV cameras.

“The department continuously monitored the effectiveness and efficiency of the police in the province and saw a need to improve community policing and strengthening safety mechanisms within Gauteng communities,” said Gauteng community safety department spokesperson Hlulani Mashaba.

Mashaba said the identified interventions could realistically address the safety issues identified by citizens at high-crime hotspots.

He said the interventions were a strong measure to ensure visible policing was improved.

Wardens would ensure intelligence was gathered in communities to tackle lawlessness through heightened enforcement.

He said they would help prevent:

– land invasion and illegal occupation of land, working with the departments of infrastructure and human settlements

– prevent incidents of damage to public and essential infrastructure

– work with schools to provide necessary support and response

“The wardens will ensure police visibility at ward level, timeous response to reported crimes, interact with community structures and other sources to provide early warning.”

He said law enforcement agencies, together with private security industries in Gauteng, would be responsible for the CCTVs across strategic places in the province.

“Townships, informal settlements and hostels such as Mamelodi and Soshanguve will be targeted and later on be rolled out to most suburban areas,” said Mashaba.

He said the CCTVs would be manned on a 24-hour basis to ensure that they never were sabotaged, vandalised or stolen.

“The CCTVs will be linked to number plate recognition technology. This will enable law enforcement agencies to recover stolen or hijacked vehicles and also stop criminals in their tracks.
Tshwane has been riddled with crime with even the police recently falling victim to a hijacking,” he concluded.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram