Pretoria - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has urged the retail industry to intensify its involvement in the fight against crime.
Speaking at the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) Conference on The Impact of Crime of the Economy on Wednesday, the minister praised the sector for being proactive in addressing crime but called for businesses to share their expertise with police.
Mthethwa said crime had the ability to derail the country's economic prosperity and needed to be tackled viciously and smartly.
"We challenge you to improve coordination within the various sectors that is, retail, banking, petroleum and cash-in-transit," he said.
The minister called on the industry to help with skills development and the mentoring of small and informal businesses - an area that was difficult for SAPS to police mainly because of the lack of proper regulatory frameworks.
Police did not have the capacity to impart business skills or run workshops to help emerging businesses.
"That is precisely why we believe consumer education can go a long way in not only educating such business about banking and cash management systems - but equally to ensure they improve their safety systems," he added.
Mthethwa said groups such as the CGCSA were crucial in shaping his ministry's approach to policing.
"Such engagements must continuously help us in our policy formulations, advancements in programmes and where necessary, assist in fine-tuning some of our current approaches."
He praised businesses for being proactive and implementing preventative measures, better cash management systems and using CCTV technologies.
"We commend such initiatives because instead of sitting on the sides of the crime fence and throwing unfounded accusations at government, you opted for a strengthening of partnerships with us," he added
Mthethwa acknowledged that one of the factors inhibiting retailers was armed robberies.
He said while the latest crime statistics showed that in almost all major business sectors there had been a significant decrease in robberies, more needed to be done.
"If police manage to reduce robberies, it becomes clear that murders will drop significantly. The same applies to attempted murder, which is to a large degree also associated with robberies," the minister added.
One of the ways police were aiming to reduce crime was through increased police visibility. In this regard, police were examining how best to deploy resources evenly and efficiently, he said.
Another crime fighting tool in the police's arsenal is war rooms. The provincial centres, which had been dubbed War Rooms, have already been introduced in some provinces and a national roll out is on the cards.
In the Western Cape, where the War Room was conceptualised and implemented crime has significantly decreased, the minister noted.
"The most obvious success of the War Rooms is that improved, higher level linkage analysis and profiling of all criminals can be done expeditiously and smarter. This has been of major assistance with regard to provincial assistance to police stations, clustering investigation teams and focusing on crime series," he added.
Mthethwa urged the CGCSA and other stakeholders to explore ways in which they could use their areas of expertise in the War Rooms.
