Police Minister touts other crime-fighting strategies beyond Operation Shanela

Thobeka Ngema|Published 6 months ago

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said there is a need for comprehensive community participation and cooperation beyond normal police-community engagement because the underlying issues causing crime are multi-faceted.

Durban — Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has indicated that besides Operation Shanela, the SA Police Service (SAPS) has implemented several initiatives to address levels of violent crime.

In a national parliamentary written question last month, the ANC’s Erald Alzano Cloete asked Police Minister Senzo Mchunu about additional measures besides Operation Shanela, which the SAPS employ to fight the rising levels of crimes to ensure safer communities.

According to SAPS, Operation Shanela consists of regular stop and searches, roadblocks, vehicle checkpoints, high visibility patrols including foot patrols, the tracing of wanted suspects with a focus on murder and rape suspects, and compliance inspections at liquor outlets and second-hand goods dealers.

Before listing several initiatives implemented by the SAPS to address levels of violent crime, Mchunu first explained that crime rates are influenced by a range of complex factors and in particular, violent or contact crime, including socio-economic conditions, inequality, education levels, drug abuse, community dynamics and more.

“Addressing these underlying causes of crime requires long-term economic, social and developmental interventions that extend beyond the scope of immediate police responses,” Mchunu said.

“Police responses primarily focus on dealing with the symptoms of the problem by enforcing the law, apprehending offenders and maintaining public order. While these efforts are necessary, they are not sufficient to address the root causes of crime, completely.”

Launch of Shanela at Khayelitsha Staduim last year. | Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers

The minister further explained that the SAPS established various platforms for consultation and collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to address the conditions which require intervention by those other departments or stakeholders. There is a need for comprehensive community participation and cooperation, which goes beyond normal police-community engagement because the underlying issues that engender crime are multi-faceted.

Mchunu said the SAPS implemented various initiatives to address levels of crime, which include:

Community Crime Imbizos, led by the Ministry of Police, MECs and SAPS management.
Local crime awareness campaigns led by Community Police Forums and Boards.
Implementing targeted crime prevention strategies, such as the Community Policing Strategy and Rural Safety Strategy.
The SAPS has also established Task Teams, which are aimed at immediately responding to violent crimes that affect communities daily, for instance:

– Essential Infrastructure Task Teams have been established in all provinces;

– Anti-Gangsterism Units are placed in all affected provinces;

– Illegal Mining Teams were established, to address the threat of illegal mining and related crime; and

– The implementation of the SAPS’ Departmental Drug Master Plan, which supports the National Drug Master Plan.

The SAPS has also established Narcotic Investigation Sections, at all Organised Crime Units, in all provinces to deal with the proliferation of drugs.
The Organised Crime Units also investigate infrastructure-related crimes and extortion at construction sites. A joint government/business task force on extortion has also been established and rolled out to all provinces.
In addition, tracing and tracking operations are conducted by the Detective Service capability at all police stations. This detective capability also follows up on forensic investigative leads on DNA and fingerprints, by tracing and arresting the alleged perpetrators, thereby addressing several criminal cases by arresting a single perpetrator.

Awareness campaigns conducted by Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Units which are aimed at addressing crimes against women and children are undertaken in all provinces as a proactive measure by this detective capability, which has a predominantly reactive function. Awareness campaigns are also conducted by the Bureau for Missing Persons, to educate members of the service and the community, especially children, on the missing persons phenomenon in South Africa.
The SAPS’ CrimeStoppers capability, within the Detective Service, receives and follows up on actionable hints provided anonymously by the community, thereby increasing the SAPS reach in terms of the detection of crime.

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