August 18, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
JOHANNESBURG plans to have a well-trained and equipped force of 4 000 metro police officers to combat crime and enforce the City's by-laws by 2009.
This was revealed by the chief of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), Chris Ngcobo, during a meeting with his Namibian counterpart, Windhoek chief of police Abraham Kanime on Thursday, 17 August at the department's headquarters in Martindale.
"In order to adequately police the city we are recruiting 250 people every month, thanks to an increase in allocation of funding from the City," Ngcobo said.
JMPD chief Chris Ngocbo and his Namibian counterpart Abraham Kanime
Kanime and his delegation from the Windhoek metropolitan police department are on a mission "to gain knowledge and expand the department's skills base and help the Namibian capital deal with its policing challenges". The delegation is in Johannesburg until Friday, 18 August.
The visit is a follow-up to a memorandum of understanding signed by Johannesburg executive mayor, Amos Masondo, and the then mayor of the Namibian capital, Matheus Shikongo, in September 2005 to forge economic and social developmental ties between the two cities.
The JMPD was established in 2001 with an initial 425 officers.
The new officers are trained in the latest technology and on how to deal with criminals "tactically", according to Ngocbo.
"Because of the latest developments where criminals are killing police officers we have seen the need to better train police officers to protect themselves and the public. We have also come up with a strategy to deal with small crimes like jay-walking because we have noticed that these small crimes breed bigger crimes."
The JMPD faces many challenges also faced by the Windhoek metro police department, Ngcobo said. However, the two departments will try and identify common issues that they can work on for the benefit of all parties concerned.
"The Windhoek police want to know more about our municipal court that we recently established, our close circuit television (CCTV) surveillance project and our training academy. They are also interested in our traffic fine system and the innovative parking meters that we installed around the city," said Ngcobo.
Compared to the JMPD, the Windhoek metro police department was relatively young, said Kanime.
"The department was established last year and we felt it was important that we move fast and visit the JMPD in order to learn how the department interacts with the national police, how it deals with crime, by-law enforcement and traffic management, among other issues."
He said his department was also concerned with the role of community policing and they hoped to gain some knowledge on how the City's metro police interacted with residents.
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