Parliament, Wednesday, 02 August 2017 – The Portfolio Committee on Police has today called on the management of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) to have coordinated operations with business owners in order to clamp down on armed robberies at retail centres.
The Committee raised this with the KZN SAPS management during its meeting in Pietermaritzburg after seeing a video on news websites, showing a violent armed robbery at a jewellery store in Hillcrest, outside Durban, yesterday.
“The brazen nature of these robberies raises questions about whether the crime intelligence and visible policing units in this province have effective communication systems with the mall security and business owners,” said Committee Chairperson Mr Francois Beukman.
Mr Beukman said the fact that the perpetrators entered the store with their faces uncovered and took just a minute to rob the store suggests that this was a planned robbery. He added that effective crime intelligence; in particular the use of informers, would have helped with intercepting the crime or provided information for immediate arrest of the perpetrators.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON POLICE, MR FRANCOIS BEUKMAN
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