Pruis set to clean up Cape

2003-06-23 20:27

Cape Town - Additional police will be deployed to the Western Cape from July 1 to assist the 302 officers brought in from other provinces last week to fight crime mainly on the Cape Flats, the acting deputy provincial commissioner Andre Pruis said on Monday.

These would include police from the dog unit, with sniffer dogs from other provinces, as well as 27 detectives who will assist with job training and other issues.

A further eight serious and violent crime unit detectives, four from the Eastern Cape and four from the national head office, will be deployed in Khayelitsha.

Pruis was addressing a media briefing in Cape Town after a total of 2 212 people had been arrested in the Cape Peninsula during Operation Tswikila (pinch).

Of the 2 212 arrests, 974 were for serious crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery. A total of 44 firearms were seized.

Pruis said one man arrested had been found to be linked to 93 other criminal cases.

Pruis said a trend had been noted in which knives were playing a bigger role than firearms in murders.

He cited the abuse of alcohol as something that had to be tackled and said fights often ended up in murder.

"Alcohol is one of the social issues that must be tackled and that involves social workers and community workers."

This was one of the reasons why police had swooped on so many shebeens at the weekend.

"When patrons took too much alcohol they also get robbed.

"I want to see, here in the Western Cape, before I leave in eight weeks time, where we see the influence of alcohol on crime, a moral regeneration programme being implemented," Pruis said, referring to his return to police headquarters in Pretoria.

Pruis said the weekend's operation was a success in his view.

"There is no way we will not see positive results and thus create a much safer Western Cape and a safer country."

He said police would continue with their operations and other operations to target hijackers and "hotspots for hijackings".

Pruis said one quarter of all new recruits would be sent to the Western Cape boosting their resources from 12 000 to 18 000.

- SAPA