I was privileged to be invited to attend a police operation consisting of four separate road blocks spread out over the suburbs of CapeTown. Regrettably I was the only person present from any of the Neighborhood Watch areas, and this disappointment was expressed by Comm. van der Riel.
SAPS officers from Pinelands and Maitland sectors were involved in this combined operation, as well as representatives of Metro Police, which took the form of road blocks aimed at offenses such as drunken driving, vehicle roadworthiness and traffic violations, illegal arms and possession of drugs. On stand-by were sniffer dogs from drugs and explosives detection units, which could be called in if required. Station Commander van der Riel of Woodstock was in overall charge of approximately 50 officers. The evening started off with a briefing meeting held at the Woodstock Police Station, at which the people were split into groups and given details of their duties and the limits that would apply for the operation. The first road block was set up near the new stadium in Green Point and, as the night was still young, proved to be relatively quiet, but served as a good practice run to set up the lane-narrowing beacons, speed reduction signs and lighting. As mentioned before, the duty team consisted of personnel from various stations that had not previously worked together, so this first stop was a good opportunity for them to co-operate and co-ordinate their activities. All the signage, lighting, spare flash lights etc. are carried in a specially designed trailer, which also includes a petrol driven generator to provide the necessary electricity. Another piece of electronic wizardry that I found interesting was a portable finger print reader that was linked not only to a national data bank, but also to Interpol. Within minutes of taking a reading, this device would inform the operator as to whether a reading was positive or negative. During the course of the evening, three or four wanted criminals were detained and taken to a charge office for further processing. I was amazed at the number of people driving vehicles whose number plates and licence disks didn’t match. “Really officer? But you see this is my boy friend’s / husband’s / father’s car, and I didn’t know.” Also high on the list were drivers who didn’t have their licences with them, and who came out with a plethora of age-old excuses, which of course didn’t cut any ice with the police. All summonses and fines relating to vehicles or traffic offences were issued by Metro Police, hence their presence. The rest was dealt with by the SAPS. The highlight (for want of a better word) of the evening for me was the arrest of a man who was carrying 6 knives on him; the blade lengths ranged from 5cm to 22cm. Apart from the smallest one, these were all tucked into the waistband of his trousers. How he managed to sit in a car without gutting himself remains a mystery to me. Interestingly, he also carried a standard table fork, and I couldn’t help but think that at least he wouldn’t have any difficulty in making a cutlery choice when it came to the left hand side of his dinner plate. Generally the police were courteous, but it was interesting to note how quickly they were able to detect whether a harsher attitude was required. At around 2.30 a.m. I was relieved to be driven home, leaving the police, many of whom had already been on duty since 6 a.m. the previous morning, to do one more road block. I strongly urge anyone to come and have their eyes opened on an evening like this, should the opportunity present itself again. It gives a tremendous insight into what goes into an operation of this nature, not to mention the nonsense that the police have to put up with during the course of their work. Rob Gimberg --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
