Oupa Segalwe
8 January 2007
South Africa's Gauteng province has boosted its crime-fighting capacity with the purchase of 250 new vehicles worth R40-million.
Provincial police spokesperson Govindsamy Mariemuthoo told BuaNews on Thursday that Tshwane would be given 80 of the new vehicles, while Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni would each receive 60 vehicles.
He said the vehicles would be allocated to the flying squad, crime combating and dog units.
"This aims to ensure that there is enough police visibility and that police response to serious and violent crimes is improved," Mariemuthoo said.
"Police need all necessary resources to tackle the challenge of crime in our society. They face a major challenge to trace and arrest most-wanted criminals and to investigate cases as they come," he added.
The move complements the province's safety strategy for 2006 to 2014, launched by Community Safety MEC Firoz Cachalia last September.
The strategy aims to achieve the target set by Cabinet of reducing serious and violent crimes by between seven and ten percent annually countrywide.
Among other things, the strategy involves the employment of an additional 3 000 police officers in the province.
Source: BuaNews
