Cape Town - The MEC for Community Safety, Albert Fritz, has shared some of the operations run by Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap) officers this past week in an effort to fight crime.
For the week October 11 to 18 , a total of 7507 suspicious persons were searched in the crime hotspots, including 1017 in Nyanga, 894 in Mitchells Plain, 847 in Delft and 812 in Philippi.
In Philippi and Harare, 41 houses were searched in each area, while 54 houses were searched in Kraaifontein, to bring the total number of houses searched to 325.
A total of 661 vehicles were searched at 27 roadblocks, while 115 inspections were conducted at liquor traders’ premises. Leap officers conducted 116 autonomous operations, while 139 operations were conducted.
“I want to acknowledge the work of the Leap, represented here by figures which only cover a seven-day period. This means that almost 1000 suspicious persons are searched every day; 94 vehicles were searched every day; 46 houses were searched every day. These are tremendous figures, and they demonstrate the enhancement of visible policing. Remember, the purpose of LEAP is not to solve crime and violence; the purpose of Leap is to enhance visible policing,” said Fritz.
CPF secretary for Philippi Thandiso Xokoza said while they are happy that the officers are clamping down on crime there are still concerns such as the illegal shebeens in the Browns Farm area.
“We are happy officers are doing this especially with the festive season ahead of us. There will be a lot of criminal activity. We are worried about the shebeens, that is where most of the problems come from. Pay day weekends and the festive season are terrible,” he said.
There was a total of 115 people arrested for various crimes, including 67 for being in possession of drugs and 17 for being in possession of a dangerous weapon. Four illegal firearms; seven imitation firearms; 26 live rounds of ammunition; 10 knives, two pangas, 1 machete and 1 axe were among the dangerous weapons confiscated. A total of 113 full tablets, 63 half tablets, two quarter tablets and seven crushed tablets of Mandrax were confiscated; in excess of 114 packets of tik; two packets, 12 straws and 21.66g of heroin; as well as one packet of unga was confiscated.
Delft CPF chairman Charles George said the interventions were appreciated but the crime statistics showed a clear indication that in Delft crime had increased.
“The overall environment has not changed at all. There are still shots being fired. We need 21st century tools to fight 21st century crime. At the moment Delft is still a scary place to be in,” he said.
Weekend Argus