Pretoria - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa believes that the South African Police Service's (SAPS) flagship television programme, When Duty Calls, should become a "nemesis to criminals".
Monday marks the broadcast of the 50th edition of the programme and in celebrating its success so far, Mthethwa said the programme had significantly and positively influenced the public's perception of the SAPS's crime fighting efforts.
When Duty Calls was first broadcast in October last year.
"Almost a year later, we are pleased about the programme's 50th edition and success. We believe that from here onwards, the programme must continue to become a nemesis to the criminals while at the same time, serve as a useful platform of hope to those who are affected by crime," the minister said.
Since the first broadcast, the programme has profiled 114 missing people. Through the help of the viewers, 28 of those missing people were reunited with their families and some of the most wanted and dangerous criminals were also arrested.
The programme has also encouraged members of the public to report crime through the Crime Line SMS number (32211), and the Crime Stop number (0860010111).
Mthethwa said the programme was one of the tools the SAPS was utilising to fight crime toughly and smartly.
"When we launched the programme last year, we appealed to South Africans not to become passive viewers but active participants in working with police to apprehend some of the scoundrels who torment society," he added.
When Duty Calls currently reaches more than one million viewers and is ranked 7th among SABC 2's top 10 performing programmes.
The programme is aired on Mondays at 6pm on SABC 2 and repeated a week later on Soweto TV Channel 150 on DSTV on Tuesdays at 6:15pm.
