Clayton Barnes
3 July 2009
Western Cape police say they are ready to deliver a safe and secure 2010 World Cup.
Thousands of police officers have been recruited and hundreds more trained for deployment to the province's fan parks, training venues, team hotels and the World Cup stadium.
But a top crime analyst has warned that more needs to be done to crack down on opportunistic street robbers and pickpockets before the event.
A senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Johan Burger, says while the police's 2010 security plan is "flawless", more needs to be done to get petty criminals off the streets now.
He said the biggest threat to hosting an event of this magnitude was the safety of visitors before and after matches.
"The police's event-specific strategy is fantastic, but there is still concern about the continued incidence of aggravated robbery on the city streets," said Burger.
"I'm sure the police will deploy more personnel on the streets, but we need to start now so that opportunists know that the police are serious about all types of crime, no matter how insignificant it might seem to them."
But Commissioner Raymond Strydom, of the police's 2010 unit, says petty criminals will face the full wrath of the law.
He said the province's World Cup security plan was on track and that street patrols, before and during the tournament, had been included in the overall safety strategy.
Strydom said 2 500 additional members had been recruited for crowd control, and that hundreds more were undergoing specialised training for the event.
"All our plans are in place and we are sharpening our skills by retraining most of our members for the tournament."
Strydom said that apart from the overall integrated safety strategy, supported by the Metro Police, Fire and Rescue and the City's Disaster Management team, police had a series of "on-the-ground" operational plans for the World Cup.
The SAPS embarked on a massive recruitment drive to increase general police numbers to more than 190 000 by 2010. The number of reservists is also expected to double before the World Cup, to 100 000.
Strydom said he was unable to disclose how many members would be deployed in the province for the event, as that information was classified.
"We will, however, also be working with our international counterparts, who will assist us with the language and cultural barriers, especially when it comes to hooliganism," he said.
Strydom said members from policing districts across the province would be deployed for the World Cup, but added that normal policing would continue at station level and in communities.
The security budget for the World Cup is R1.3 billion - R665m for procurement and R640m for deployment. In total, 41 000 police officers will be deployed across the country. They are undergoing training from their French counterparts.
The SAPS has also bought four of six new helicopters for the event. There will be 40 in total - the other 34 belong to the SANDF, navy and air force.
A total of 100 high-performance BMWs and 10 bomb disposal robots, eight of which are here already, will be delivered.
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