Durban - Police are intensifying operations following the death of over 30 people in shootings across the country in the last month.
National SAPS Commissioner Sehlahle Fannie Masemola, said several measures have been put in place to enhance policing methodologies to reduce serious and violent crimes.
Speaking at a briefing on Monday, he said working with provincial commissioners through the National Crime Combating Forum, they were looking at intensifying deployment over identified problematic time zones and at identified crime hotspots.
He said the police had noted that most serious and violent crime in the country were committed between Fridays and Mondays.
Masemola said all provinces were now conducting simultaneous blitz operations with high visibility and combat operations throughout the weekend.
"These entail cordon and searches, as well as intelligence-driven, multi-disciplinary, disruptive operations. Tighter enforcement of the Firearms Control Act, the National- and Provincial Liquor Acts, and the Second Hand Goods Act, as well as strategic mounting of roadblocks, are operational interventions against which commanders are now being measured," he said.
Masemola said station commanders are expected to align their daily duties and reporting to the Crime Threat and Pattern Analysis of their local policing precinct.
"The past weekends have been marred by incidents of shootings that have resulted in multiple murders and injuries in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng mostly. With the analysis of this emerging crime pattern, Provincial Commissioners are mobilising maximum resources towards preventing more such incidents and apprehending the perpetrators," he said.
IOL