Durban police have been given a fleet of new cars in the fight against armed robberies and hijackings and other serious crimes across the city.
The vehicles – 12 in total – were handed over on Thursday to the Trio Crimes Task Team which was formed to tackle aggravated robberies at both business and homes.
Police spokesman, Brigadier Jay Naicker said the vehicles will be unmarked - known as "ghost vehicles"- to assist officers in the “element of surprise”.
And according to police, 17 more vehicles will be handed over to officers next week to further boost their fight against crime.
Police said that since the formation of the task team there had been a decline in robberies and hijackings. No figures were given to back up these claims, however.
“SAPS has also identified clusters that require interventions and each of these clusters have formed a multi-disciplinary task team that includes role players from, Visible policing, Intelligence,Detectives, Tactical Response Teams, Metro Police (and) National Intervention Unit,” Naicker said in a statement.
“These members have undergone an orientation phase prior to their deployment and will be rotated regularly. The Tasks Teams have being activated, resourced and capacitated without compromising the day to day functioning of frontline services at station level. Teams will be managed from the Cluster Operational Command Centres, who will be monitoring the crime and deploying their teams accordingly,” the statement said.
The Acting Provincial Commissioner, Major General Bheki Langa promised to provide further support to the Trio Crimes Task Teams.
“We have secured more funds for overtime as well as 17 additional vehicles for our Trio Crimes Task Teams which will be delivered next week. Criminals need to feel the heat and the recent confrontations with criminals is just an indication of things to come. Our members will be a thorn in the flesh of these thugs and there will be no place for them to hide,” he said.