July 23, 2007
By Emily Visser
METRO police will be more visible on the streets of Joburg, after the department boosted its fleet by 36 new patrol vehicles.
The 24 new BMW 320is and 12 new twin-cab Ford Rangers bring the number of metro police patrol cars to 46. They were officially handed over to the freeway patrol unit at the Johannesburg metropolitan police department (JMPD) headquarters in Martindale on Friday, 20 July.
JMPD gets ready for action
The BMWs would be used to patrol all freeways in Joburg, "ensuring high police visibility and intensifying road law enforcement", said the department's spokesperson, Wayne Minnaar, at the handover.
Six of the BMWs are unmarked and will be used for freeway patrols and for patrolling specific locations such as smash-and-grab and vehicle hijacking hotspots. The marked vehicles are in the JMPD's colours of bright orange and white, with blue sign writing.
Better capabilities
"We must have better capabilities than criminals – that is why we chose BMW," said Chief of Police Chris Ngcobo at the handover. The new vehicles have better police lights, based on those used by the police patrols of New York City and Los Angeles. The previous lights were very noisy and could only work when the vehicle was running.
The Ford Rangers are special patrol units and will be used when many police officers are needed in one area at a time, such as during unrest or riots.
In 2001, when the JMPD was launched, Joburg police officers still used 26-year-old Nissan Skylines. "From that day we committed ourselves to improving our fleet," Ngcobo said.
The new vehicles are leased from Fleet Africa and will be replaced after 60 months or 120 000 kilometres, whichever comes first.
The new fleet
There are 57 police officers in the unit; in addition to vehicle patrols, the JMPD also has eight motorcycles on the road, which it aims to increase to 24.
Leadership course
In another move to improve the capabilities of the metro police, Ngcobo and senior management, including the director in command of the freeway patrol unit, Angie Mokasi, recently completed a leadership course at the FBI, the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ngcobo has asked the FBI to bring the course to other officers in the country. "I am passionate about training," he says.
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