Parliament will today bring under one roof role players in the cash-in-transit industry to examine the measures in place aimed at dealing with this crime, which has seen an upsurge in recent months.
The Portfolio Committee on Police chairperson, Francois Beukman, said the aim of the public hearing is to get together all role players in the cash-in-transit industry, especially in the security and law enforcement environment, to ascertain whether sufficient short- and long-term measures are in place to deal with the current scourge of heists.
“Cash-in-transit heists directly affect the safety of security officers, the SAPS and members of the public and the general perception of safety in the Republic. The Portfolio Committee needs assurances from the role players that the necessary pro-active steps are in place to deal with the current challenges,” Beukman said.
The committee will focus on seven priorities during the public hearing, including the intelligence and operational readiness of the South African Police Service (SAPS), the current cooperation between SAPS and the private security industry, and the vetting procedures in the police and private security industry.
Other areas of focus will be the state of training, vehicles and protective gear of security officers; the regularity environment and the role of Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA), cooperation between the banking sector and law enforcement agencies and technological innovations to curb the incentives to engage in cash-in-transit heists.
Beukman said apart from SAPS, who will brief the committee, other role players that will participate today include the big three private security companies, the trade union representing the private security industry, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, Business against Crime and PSIRA.
Emphasis will be on ensuring that lessons learnt during the 2007 peak of cash-in-transit heists and solutions applied then are critically assessed.
“The root causes for the current situation should be directly interrogated and the law enforcement agencies must reassess their analysis and methodology dealing with serious organised crime,” said Beukman. – SAnews.gov.za
