Police Minister Bheki Cele said 10 00 additional members of the SAPS will be deployed across the country during the festive season.
The officers will officially join the police service from Friday, after undergoing a rigorous training programme and deployment at some police stations across the country.
Cele was briefing the media in Pretoria, regarding the police ministry’s festive season operations and Operation Shanela.
The minister highlighted that the festive season where criminals sharpen and refine their operations and take advantage of the festive mood.
To counter this, Cele said law enforcement authorities will continue to upscale their responses to crime for this holiday and beyond.
“There will be 10 000 more boots on the ground, come the 15 December, when the last passing out parade takes place in Tshwane.
“The new members will provide a much-needed boost to the current policing numbers and amplify our law enforcing efforts.
“These officers will be deployed to sanitise the streets and increase the footprint of the police in all nine provinces,” said Cele.
The minister said the deployment will be prioritised especially in high crowd zone, areas of entertainment and leisure during this period.
He is adamant that the deployment will help improve SAPS visibility which he said is the most powerful arsenals for SAPS in the prevention of crime.
Cele explained that he has confidence in the new recruits, and that “overtime with guidance the officers will be valuable to the service and build on the capacity of the service.”
The minister said this deployment will run in conjunction Operation Shanela, which is the police crime combating programme.
Cele applauded the programme since it was established this year in May.
“In the past six months, 259 793 suspects have been arrested, for various crimes across the country.
“The chunk of the arrests was in the Western Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal,” explained Cele.
Ammunition, illegal goods and stolen vehicles are some of the items that were confiscated during the operations.
