Police station leadership leads by example
ALEXANDRA – Police station management on the beat effect arrest, close illegal tavern.
Alex police management went on the beat recently to help stem crime.
They intend to intensify patrols to cover all four sectors as part of regular operations and to increase police visibility.
Head of the Social Crime Prevention unit, Lieutenant Alie Kodisang said a team, led by acting station commander Colonel Nhluvuko Zondi; head of Visible Policing, Colonel Johannes Tau with the youth desk members, scoured Sector 2 which covers the area between Vincent Tshabalala Road and Florence Maphosho Avenue and from 1 to 13 avenues.
The area, he said, is notorious for contact crimes which involve assaults, grievous bodily harm and domestic violence which occasionally results in the use of firearms and other dangerous weapons.
Kodisang said they were concerned that most of the crimes resulted from very little provocation and could be avoided through dialogue and mediation. “This appears to be caused by a culture of intolerance resulting from high levels of stress, frustration linked to overcrowding, alcohol consumption and drug use,” Kodisang said.
“The pent-up anger erupts on any victim at the slightest provocation. We distributed pamphlets with anti-crime messages. There is a need to regain peace in the community by developing localised mediation capacity.” He added that the exercise also resulted in the arrest of an illegal gambling machine operator and closure of an illegal tavern.
Kodisang added that crime trends in sectors 1 and 3, which cover the area from 14th Avenue to Eastbank in Tsutsumani, were similar to Sector 2 and included rapes committed by jilted lovers on former spouses and partners, assaults, armed burglaries and robberies and motor vehicle hijackings which occur mostly on Vincent Tshabalala Road and Lenin Drive.
“The armed crimes often involve stolen guns, some of which are hired out.” Kodisang added that many hijackers stole vehicles to use as getaways from crime scenes rather than to sell them, as many vehicles were now equipped with tracking systems and were easy to trace. He said the assaults involved head butting, use of fists, knives, broken bottles, iron pipes and objects found lying around.
Kodisang said Sector 4, which comprises the business district around PanAfrica Mall, experienced more shoplifting, business robberies, theft from motor vehicles and thefts.
He urged residents to be more vigilant when shopping, to be considerate of each other, seek help from the Community Policing Forum and to avoid attempting to bribe police officers as they will be arrested together with the transgressing officers.
