Durban - The Durban Metro Police are having to keep crime-fighting efforts secret from their own officers, who are suspected of tipping off immediate families and friends about police operations.
During parts of the long weekend, between September 20 and 22, Metro Police officers were due to conduct a joint special operation in the north of Durban with members of the Major Operations Reactions Team (Mort), Public Order Policing (POP) and the SAPS.
Metro Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Parboo Sewpersad said police officers within the unit and those working with them were suspected to have passed on information about the operation to their comrades, and they cancelled the effort 10 minutes before it was due to begin.
“We cannot win the war against public transport and against road traffic offences that take place. We have people within the police who are giving out this information,” Sewpersad said.
“You can’t put your own person in uniform at risk. You don't know if the guy will be taken out or not. It’s really bad if your own is turning against you.”
Sewpersad said they were looking into police officers who own taxis, ride-hailing services and trucks, as well as those who have friends and immediate family who are owners of such vehicles.
He said a similar operation conducted about two weeks ago had yielded 465 charges for documentation offences, 331 for moving violations, 246 for vehicle defect offences, 125 arrests for drunk driving, 120 warrants of arrest and summons were issued and executed, 71 people were charged for stationary (vehicle) violations, 32 vehicles were impounded and 13 people were charged for violating by-laws.
The metro police had been looking to improve these figures, but subsequent operations had been unsuccessful.
“There has been no discipline. Therefore we will continue the operations, but we will continue unannounced because we have police officers from within our side who are giving the information out,” said Sewpersad.
“Over that weekend we impounded 55 vehicles, but this month only 32," he said.
“The 465 charged for documentation offences had failed to produce driving licences and other documentation.”
He said they held a similar operation along the beachfront and Point areas into which they had poured all their resources and did very well.
“We did one in the south as well and for that particular weekend there was no crime committed. Can you believe it? What does that tell you?
“If you put police officers and the resources in place, crime will be displaced and there will be no crime committed (in the area where the operation was held).”
Phoenix CPF chairperson Umesh Singh said every police operation was done in the interests of the public.
“Whoever is responsible for that behaviour, it is unacceptable. They should be rooted out of the system.”