Durban - ‘Give General Riyah Phiyega time.” This was the impassioned plea by the head of Crime Line, Yusuf Abramjee, to the media and the public on Monday as criticism continued to mount against the police commissioner following the release of the police crime statistics, which showed an increase in violent crime, particularly murder, across the country.
“I am not saying don’t criticise her. Criticise if she is wrong, but the criticism must be justified,” he said.
Abramjee was addressing delegates attending the 51st International Association of Women Police training conference in Durban.
Phiyega, who was appointed South Africa’s top police officer last year, has faced a barrage of criticism, particularly for her handling of the Marikana massacre where police killed 34 striking miners.
More recently she came under fire for the botched appointment of Major-General Bethuel Zuma as Gauteng police commissioner, which was retracted hours later when it was discovered that he had been facing charges of drunk driving and resisting arrest in Pietermaritzburg.
Abramjee, who founded Crime Line - an independent crime tip-off line - six years ago, was speaking about the benefits of a private partnership, as Crime Line had, in tackling crime.
“South Africa was the first country in the world to use SMS text technology that allows the public to send tip-offs to police. As a result of this partnership, thousands of people have been arrested and many seizures have been made,” he said.
Abramjee said Crime Line did not conduct investigations but gave the public a platform to interact with police in an anonymous way.
“What we do is we make sure that we follow up on that information. Someone somewhere somehow knows something about crime… We have to encourage the community to blow the whistle on crime and break the silence,” he said.
People wanting to send an anonymous tip-off to Crime Line can do so by SMSing their tip to 32211 SMS service, online at www.crimeline.co.za or by calling Crime Stop at 086 001 0111.
Abramjee said he hoped to take Crime Stop and Crime Line to the rest of Africa.
A drug tip-off initiative launched by Crime Line in the Western Cape last year, and rolled out in Gauteng this year, had been so successful that the police wanted to roll it out to the rest of country.
Drug Watch was piloted in Cape Town last year and people were asked to provide the police with information on drug dealers.
“In two and a half months the police arrested 14 950 people in the Western Cape alone and recovered drugs worth R15 million.
“We took the same model to Gauteng and were able to arrest 35 100 people involved in drug dealing and recovered drugs worth R12m.
“We are coming to KZN and we are going to the Eastern Cape. We have to strengthen this partnership between law enforcement and the public to win the war on drugs,” he said.
Daily News