Metro police have safety plan

CRIME and by-law infringement will be strictly monitored by the Joburg metro police department (JMPD), which has announced an operational plan for the festive season.

According to the member of the mayoral committee for public safety, Matshidiso Mfikoe, the department’s safety programme will run until January 2012 to ensure residents abide by the City's by-laws and are kept safe.

The operational plan takes into consideration the guidelines of Joburg 2040, the Growth and Development Strategy for the next three decades, especially because there is an influx of Christmas traders during the festive season.

The JMPD’s by-law management unit will implement its law enforcement plans to maintain a healthier, safer and better environment during this time, when an escalation in crime is anticipated. By-law violations and crime prevention will be the chief focus points.

Some of the main problems behind these issues include the influx of people into the city with the hope to better their lives. Most of these people don't find jobs and resort to illegal activities like opening up illegal scrap yards, panel beaters and taverns which gradually increase, Mfikoe says in her statement.

During the Christmas season, the city becomes overpopulated and criminals often hide in the shadows of hawkers and take advantage of vulnerable citizens. The by-law enforcement teams will engage in high visibility patrols over this time.

Officers will be on the lookout for:

Trading within restricted areas;
Illegal dumping;
Littering;
Illegal display of signage and posters;
Trading within five metres of intersections;
Trading in counterfeit goods;
Urinating in public;
Land invasion;
Vagrants;
Liquor licence regulation violations;
Pick pocketing and robberies;
Washing and repairing of vehicles next to traffic lights;
Public indecency;
Drinking liquor in public;
Illegal connections;
Fireworks;
Window washers; and
Removal of blind beggars from intersections.
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