A note from SAPS: Police take back the streets and close escape routes in Gauteng

High level of police visibility  is surely a drastic step to take crime head-on and sector policing  a major initiative to come into the most frequent contact with the Guteng communities.
While the Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant Mzwadile Petros,  is calling for citizen involvement in crime prevention, he has also discovered  that what works best is to take the criminals head-on. High levels of police visibilty and closing the escape routes for criminals has had a major impact in dealing with crime levels in this province over the past two months.
Permanent deployemnts on the higways and the introduction of sector policing is effectively influencing the delivery of police services to the Gauteng communities. At the same time criminals will discover that the police means serious business. Clean-up operations, "Operation Duty Calls" in major cities,  including Johannesburg, Hillbrow, Pretoria  and Thembisa, have already been launched  and criminals who hope to commit crimes during the festive season are in for a shock. 
The Police, other law enfocement agencies and Governament departments have combined forces to deal with violent crimes, offences  and municipality by laws. Random stop-and search operations, raids on shebeens contraventing the Liquor Act, raids on wanted suspects for serious crimes and offences including traffic violations,  form part of daily crime prevention operations 
As a result of these deployemnts, police response to complaints and crime scene arrests have improved "As some of these  regular operations  will  inconvinience  and place the police  in conflict with some law-abiding citizens, we are calling for co-operation  from all sectors of the community"Except high levels of visibility, police intelligence  that  forms part of "operation When Duty Calls"  is in operation to identify criminals and intercept their projection plans to commit crimes. They are deployed on highways, shopping malls and other business environments, taxi ranks, trains and buses. 
Last week, they infiltrated a gang who had planned to rob shopping malls during the festice season. Seven firearms, including AK47s and R4s, were confiscated. After eight suspects were taken into custody, it was established that they had been involved in more than ten serious crimes including cash-heist, hijacking, business robbery and  house robbery. This has been a breakthrough in preventing robbery at shopping malls, hijackings and other violent crimes during the festive season.     
The Gauteng Provincial Commissioner is also on a roadshow to meet every sector of the community including victims of crime to improve better communication  and assuring the communities of his 'head-on approach' with crime.
The provincial Commissioner is also calling all the officers  who are lazy and not doing what they are employed for, to resign or he will get them discharged from the service. Those who are involved in crimes  will face arrest and prosecution. For the past two months more than 60 police officers have been arrested for corruption and other serious crimes and some have already been discharged from the SAPS in Gauteng.