Pretoria - The festive season anti-crime campaign called Operation Duty Call has seen the decline of serious crimes during December 2009,says Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
"We have experienced significant declines in various crimes including cash-in-transits, armed robberies, house robberies/break-ins and business robberies, particularly mall robberies," said Mthethwa on Monday.
"Aggravated robbery and theft of motor vehicles decreased significantly during this festive period compared to figures for the corresponding previous period."
Mthethwa, who attributed the decline in these crimes to higher police visibility, said the statistics were based on interim reports.
The minister said National Police Commissioner, Bheki Cele, will present the final report in due course after collating and finalising the provincial reports.
Communities in various provinces, Mthethwa said, had expressed their support and appreciation of police visibility at shopping malls, taxi ranks, roadblocks and known crime hot spots.
He said the success of the operation was achieved through partnerships, effective strategies, proper planning, focused and intelligence-led approaches.
Meanwhile, Cele praised the South African Police Service and Tactical Response Team who sacrificed their festive season to ensure the safety of all citizens and visitors.
"We were on field during the holidays, concentrating more on targeted cities. Police visibility has played a crucial role in the fight against crime during the holidays.
"This is not the end, we will continue to work and minimise the space for criminals," he said.
