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Metro Police join war against Honeydew criminals

CRIME BUSTERS: Commissioner Oswald Reddy and Metro Police Chief Chris Ngcobo at the launch of the joint project in Honeydew Picture: ALON SKUY

WITH fast cars and more cops on the beat, police in Johannesburg hope to beat hijackers, and house and business robbers at their own game.

Twenty Johannesburg Metro Police officers and eight metro vehicles have been seconded to the Honeydew police for the next three months to assist with crime prevention in the area.

With an estimated population of about 800,000 people living in the Honeydew precinct, which includes the Zandspruit township, the new Cosmo City development, several suburbs and about 800 townhouse complexes, these crimes have shot up in the last financial year and the thin blue line is held by only 220 officers.

Station boss Assistant Commissioner Oswald Reddy admitted: "The statistics [for 2006/07] look alarming."

During April, May and June police managed to bring down business robberies by 42 percent and house robberies by 11 percent.

Reddy said: "But hijackings went up and it is not looking good. In the following three months we want to see a reduction in these crimes using rapid response to stabilise the figures."

Johannesburg Metro Police Chief Chris Ngcobo has been offering the beleaguered precinct a helping hand since mid-June.

Reddy said several arrests have been made in a number of recent house robbery cases, and on Friday a team of Honeydew detectives departed for Nelspruit in Mpumalanga to search for five house robbers hiding out there.

He said: "There are four response cars that will act as Honeydew's own flying squad, while the rest of the vehicles will be used in crime prevention duties and in targeted roadblocks.

"We are armed and we are ready to take criminals on."

Reddy said security and armed response companies working in the area will soon be included in the crime busting plan to respond to robberies and hijackings.

Hot spots for house robberies in the Honeydew precinct are Weltevreden Park, Randpark Ridge, Cosmo City, Northwold and Strubens Valley.