'War Room’ and Tracker achieve unprecedented arrest rate

SAPS Western Cape ‘War Room’ and lady constable scoop top honours at crime fighting awards

The SAPS Western Cape “War Room” Observation Team and Constable CN Mantshule of the Sydenham Crime Prevention Unit in KwaZulu Natal have scooped top honours at the 2009 National Tracker-SAPS Awards Ceremony held in Centurion today (September 21, 2009).

The event, sponsored by vehicle tracking giant, Tracker, is attended by government ministers, high commissioners, various SAPS dignitaries and business leaders and aims to honour those law enforcement officers and units whose efforts over the past year have helped significantly to combat vehicle crime in South Africa. The awards are judged between Tracker and senior police officials.

Below is the list of national nominees for both the Individual Officer and Unit categories:

Individual Officer:

1. Inspector E R Matthee, Insp B G Benz, Insp M A Shange and Insp R Olivier (SAPS, ACCU Johannesburg).

2. Inspector E DE W Brandt (SAPS Dog Unit, Polokwane).

3. Captain R Schilling (SAPS Dog Unit, Ermelo).

4. Captain Botha (SAPS Flying Squad, Rustenburg).

5. Constable C N Mantshule (SAPS Crime Prevention Unit, Sydenham) OVERALL INDIVIDUAL WINNER.

6. Inspector J Lourens (SAPS Dog Unit, Cape Town).

7. Captain S Marais (SAPS Communications, Duncan Village).

8. Sergeant R N Titus, (SAPS Radio Technical Unit, Northern Cape).

9. Sergeant M Pienaar (SAPS Dog Unit, Bloemfontein).

Unit:

1. SAPS Dog Unit, North East Rand (Gauteng).

2. SAPS Motetema (Limpopo).

3. SAPS Dog Unit, White River (Mpumalanga).

4. SAPS Flying Squad, Rustenburg (North West).

5. SAPS Crime Prevention Unit, Umlazi (KZN).

6. SAPS Flying Squad, Bloemfontein (Free State).

7. SAPS Radio Control, Kimberley (Northern Cape).

8. SAPS “War Room” Observation Team, (Western Cape) OVERALL UNIT WINNER.

9. SAPS Flying Squad, Mthatha (Eastern Cape).

Note: The nominees were selected from the winners of their respective provincial awards.

The recipients of the main awards each received a trophy and a certificate and a monetary donation was made on their behalf to a charity of their choice. In addition to this and, for the second time in the ten-year history of the awards, the winners were awarded an international trip to their choice of training seminars held and run by *IAATI – the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators. Last year’s winners recently attended the national seminar in Denver, Colorado.

These officers will not only be able to learn new skills to better equip them in their fight against crime, but they will be able to bring their learnings back with them which they can then share with their colleagues.

Says Tracker’s Chief Executive Officer, Alan Hutcheson: “After 13 years of working closely together we firmly believe that the Tracker-SAPS relationship is one of the most successful public-private sector partnerships ever seen in South Africa. Together, we have recovered almost 47 000 stolen and hijacked vehicles which has resulted in more than 8200 arrests and the shutting down of over 310 chop shops and crime syndicates.”

“I would like to pay tribute to the selfless efforts of all those police officers who constantly risk their lives so that we may live in a better, safer South Africa,” commented Hutcheson.

Supporting the children of fallen police officers

To pay tribute to the sacrifices made by police officers throughout South Africa, Tracker continues to sponsor the National Tracker-SAPS Bursary Fund.

The Fund provides tertiary merit bursaries for the children of police officers who have been lost in the line of duty and is currently helping to educate some 40 students at universities and technikons throughout the country.

“Although there is nothing we can do to bring back these slain police officers, by providing their children with a meaningful education we are paying tribute to them in the best way possible. We are enormously proud of the project,” commented Hutcheson.

Judges’ citations on the winners: Top Police Unit: SAPS Western Cape “War Room” Observation Team (headed by Captain H.X. Mbada).

“Tracker Western Cape had an exceptional year in 2008/2009 and played a pivotal role in combating crime in the province. This role was not confined to vehicle theft and hijacking, but also contributed to the fight against syndicates involved in other crimes. During May 2008 the Provincial Commissioner, Commissioner Petros, initiated the “War Room”. This followed after the Western Cape was targeted by crime syndicates and hijackings soared in the province. The sole purpose of the “War Room” was to centralize information and to establish profiles on criminals. Tracker approached the “War Room” and offered to help as we believed we could make a valuable contribution to this initiative. After several meetings to establish the ground rules we were allowed to participate. Tracker committed that upon activation of a stolen or hijacked vehicle the company would liaise with the “War Room” members in order to observe the vehicle. Our tactics focussed strongly on not only recovering the stolen or hijacked vehicle, but on affecting arrests wherever possible.

A key focus was on bringing down the heads of the syndicates. The initiative worked exceptionally well and led to the arrest of 163 suspects in seven months. This equals one arrest for every second vehicle activated. It also led to the recovery of 22 additional vehicles that were not fitted with a tracking system. A total of six unlicensed firearms were recovered and within six months we were able to see a decline in our activations. This was due to a well oiled machine that literally steamrolled the syndicates.”

 

Top Individual Officer: Constable C N Mantshule (SAPS Crime Prevention Unit, Sydenham – KwaZulu Natal)

“Constable Mantshule, (Charity, as she is more affectionately known) is attached to the Sydenham Crime Prevention Unit in Durban. This unit has been nominated several times over the years.

Charity has on many occasions tracked vehicles outside of her patrol area, often recovering these vehicles before police units operating in the area.

Over the past year, she has been involved in the recovery of some 160 sought motor vehicles. In addition, she has helped us with SkyTrax verifications and assists. She also often trains new recruits that are posted in the Crime Prevention unit at Sydenham.

Police members who work with her have clearly benefited from her work ethic and expertise and are performing well in their own right. Charity does not believe her work is done once the stolen vehicle has been recovered and is always willing to assist with the perceived ‘softer issues’ such as fetching spare keys from clients, transporting clients to the police station, and so on. She often works beyond the requirements of her shift to ensure that every aspect of the recovery is a success. In addition, she has assisted on numerous occasions with tracking demonstrations.

Charity has been fired upon on several occasions during vehicle tracks, yet remains firmly committed to her work. It is not uncommon for her to single-handedly pursue vehicle criminals and affect arrests in the course of her duties.”

Successes of the Tracker/SAPS partnership

The Tracker/SAPS partnership has been in place since 1996 and has made significant inroads in the fight against vehicle crime.

Tracker-SAPS vital stats

Over the past 13 years, the following has been achieved (based on Tracker’s customer base of some 570 000 vehicles):

Recoveries	46 401 *
Arrests	8211 *
Vehicles ‘not fitted with a Tracker’ recovered	1527*
Firearms recovered	334*
Chop Shops and Syndicates exposed	318 *

* The most in Africa, by any vehicle tracking company.