A security meeting at the Springs Police Station addressed the spate of cable thefts in Nuffield North over the past five weeks on September 4.

Ward Clr Mike du Toit chaired the meeting attended by various stakeholders. They included businesses affected by power outages, security companies, detectives investigating infrastructure-related crimes, the EMPD, the CPF and others.

Du Toit outlined the current severity of the issue, detailing the primary objective of the meeting.

“The objective of this meeting is to design a system involving all role players to combat crimes against infrastructure in the key point areas. We need effective and shared intelligence. It is vital to have intelligence, or else we will not solve these problems.

“Most importantly, we need to make arrests. The truth is that a crime has not been resolved unless there is a conviction,” he said.

He said they aim to achieve this goal through public partnership, which he was already involved in through his oversight committee, Economic Development.

“Between the Chamber of Commerce and industry in Springs, we have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ekurhuleni government aimed at finding a way to co-operate with one another. The type of set-up we have here could be an important part of a public-private partnership,” he said.

Du Toit said that although security companies had a mandate to make a profit, there was a need to figure out how to incentivise the private security companies to also work in the common areas that the contracts with businesses did not cover.

He opened the floor for the attendees to state their input and suggestions. Lieutenant Colonel Rajesh Ramlall, representing the station commander, said, “The SAPS has a set of challenges and is making efforts to form partnerships to ensure our community is safer.

“The security companies are very active, but it seems as if we are working in isolation. That is one of the reasons we want to group together.”

The SAPS revealed that the key indicator of a crime hotspot was reported cases. Ramlall stressed the importance of reporting cable thefts to ensure the SAPS recognised the area as a hotspot.

“Some of the matters, although reported to the Energy Department, are not reported to the SAPS, so we end up not having the statistics, and that is where some of our challenges lie.

“We encourage you to report matters to us so that we have them on our database to identify the hotspots and deal with them accordingly,” Ramlall said.

Captain Sandra Mnisi said courts sometimes threw out cases because there was no ID statement, an issue, she added, that was most prevalent in Springs, Nigel and Kwa-Thema. She explained that this statement indicates which service provider a cable is from.

“This is why some arrests do not result in convictions. Without ID statements, the case can be thrown out of court,” she said.

ALSO READ: Word War Two G1 guns arrive at Springs Military and Mine Museum

A representative from the Energy Department at the meeting said he would look into the matter, but Du Toit said he would take it up with the area engineer instead.

Those present were encouraged to follow up after making an arrest. The SAPS reminded security companies to record their witness statements, especially if they were the first at the crime scene.

The SAPS stated that it would ensure members were on board and willing to work effectively with the EMPD and the security companies.

“Whether an arrest was made by security or the EMPD, it must end up with the SAPS so that it can proceed to court. We must, therefore, build a workable relationship to reduce infrastructure problems,“ Ramlall said.

ALSO READ: Springs Gold Rotary Club invites residents to help pack Santa Shoebox gifts for children