Cape Flats gang unit disbanded
2003-03-07 18:30
Cape Town - The specialist police gang unit on the violence-torn Cape Flats is to be disbanded, Western Cape police spokesperson Captain Rod Beer confirmed on Friday.
The 47 members of the unit have been given letters informing them they are to be redeployed.
However, Beer said the move, part of a national restructuring in the police, did not mean that the fight against gangsterism would be any less effective.
"We are still going to have police officers combating gangsterism, but not in the current format," he said.
He said the restructuring, which included the absorption of the narcotics bureau into the organised crime unit, was aimed at improving service delivery.
The role played by the gang unit would be filled by the existing Operation Slasher, a joint operation of the South African Police Services, the Cape Town City Police and the defence force.
Slasher would be forming a special task team to look at the problem of gangsterism, he said.
The gang unit members would be redeployed at police stations across the Cape Flats, where their expertise would still be used.
The restructuring was taking place in terms of a management decision, known as Resolution Seven, taken last year and communicated to all members.
- SAPA