A new high-tech crime centre will become operational in July, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said on Monday, in a speech which echoed President Thabo Mbeki’s pledge earlier in the month to step up efforts to address crime.

Speaking in his State of the Province address on Monday, Shilowa said that the province had set aside R600-million to build and equip a new police emergency response centre to replace the six existing centres.

“Our objective in the coming year is to prevent and reduce violent crime as well as target serious economic crime and organised crime.” The province was looking to change the existing 10111 emergency number system, by adding the latest technology, including satellite-tracking devices into all police emergency response vehicles and radios.

“Dispatch operators will then be able to direct a specific police vehicle to the scene of the emergency along the shortest possible route and digitally track the response of each police vehicle and record all communication between the caller, the 10111 centre operators and the police official responding to the call,” he noted.

The province was also looking to establish a police performance monitoring system, which would allow the Department of Community Safety to use different data sets to track the performance of each police station in Gauteng on a regular basis.

“This will allow us to take decisive action against poorly performing police stations while giving recognition to those who are doing their best to work with communities to prevent and reduce crime,” he stated.

“Through the Gauteng Safety Strategy, we will seek to improve the quality of policing in the province, promoting the coordination of the criminal justice system and expanding the role of municipal police in crime prevention,” Shilowa said.

He added that ensuring that policing services and other crime prevention initiatives were provided on an equitable basis across the province was of particular importance, especially as the poorest communities were often the worst affected by crime.

To secure the participation of young people in social crime prevention initiatives, 27 new youth desks would be established throughout the province. A revised school safety plan was currently being developed and campaigns undertaken in schools to reduce the proliferation of illegal weapons, drugs and alcohol, Shilowa announced.

The Premier also said that the province was looking to launch a broad-based movement against crime, which involved recruiting 22 000 volunteers deployed in patrol groups to reclaim the streets from criminals in 25 identified areas.

“We must isolate the criminal elements in our communities and send an unequivocal message to our youngsters that these are not role models but thugs. Together with communities we must close down the black market, where stolen goods are sold.”