Pretoria - The festive season may still be months away, but police operations have already kicked off to ensure that it is a safe one.
Police were committed to reducing crime and ensuring that criminals did not get "undeserved bonuses" this festive season, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at the launch of the Operation Duty Calls Festive Season Crime-Fighting Campaign in Thokoza.
Police would pull out all the stops to ensure a crime-free festive season.
"We understand that as we plan our operations, these scoundrels will equally devise their evil plans. Let us thwart them before they even commence. Let us crush their missions. We have demonstrated before and we once again make a clarion call to all police officers supported by law-abiding citizens, to make life difficult for criminals," he added.
Police operations kicked off on Wednesday and would continue into January 2012.
Police will intensify their operations in the run up to the festive season, when tourists are expected to flock to the coastal cities of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban.
"This year's operations will build upon the previous year's lessons and successes. We will also increase high visibility patrols at all tourist destinations, especially along the coastal cities," he said.
The minister said he hoped to read about failed heists and the arrests of criminals this festive season, instead of reading about the increased crime that is usually noted over this period.
"This festive season, our approach and operations will be focused around aggravated robberies, including house and business robberies, cash-in-transit, as well as ATM bombings. We also focused on social crime prevention operations dealing with contact crimes like murder, rape and crimes against women and children," he said.
There will also be a strong police presence at shopping malls and other public places during the festive season to thwart any illegal activities, the minister said.
Police will also pay close attention to drug abuse during the festive season.
Mthethwa noted that the drug trade and its associated problems were causing headaches across the world.
"The effects of drug abuse are the disintegration of nations and distort the moral fibre of society, thus undermining the rule of law. It has to be fought with all the power and the means at our disposal. It is one major waste of human endeavour to social progress," he said.
The minister noted that crime affected all South Africans and therefore it was not just up to police to fight crime.
"We view communities as the cornerstone and important role-players in government's goal of effectively dealing with crime," he said.
He added that police wanted to go beyond just arresting criminals, to ensuring that those found to be on the wrong side of the law, were successfully convicted.
For this reason, police will be beefing up their detective and investigative arms.
"All members of the police from now henceforth will be introduced to basic detective work, whether in the final analysis they end up operating in detectives or not. The success of the SAPS must now be judged according to the number of successful convictions we make," he said. - BuaNews
