South Africa : New SAPS 2010 vehicles to secure country's highways

By Michael Appel

Johannesburg - A fleet of 54 new BMWs are to be acquired and used by the South African Police Service (SAPS) to patrol and secure the country's major highways and freeways during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

SAPS National Planning Committee spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo said the police have guaranteed FIFA the country's highways would be safe.

"The 54 BMWs, all of which will be procured by the end of March 2009, will be used to patrol and secure the highways and freeways, also acting as quick response vehicles. We will also have a fleet of 37 helicopters to help in the policing," the senior superintendent told BuaNews on Tuesday.

He was attending the world's biggest inter-business soccer exhibition, Soccerex 2008, which opened in Sandton on Monday.

All drivers that will be operating the vehicles have undergone pro-driver and advanced driving courses.

In the build up to the hosting of the world's first FIFA World Cup on African soil, the police have been beefing up their resources, recruiting 55 000 members since 2005.

The world cup will have a dedicated deployment of police officers numbering 41 000, said senior superintendent Naidoo, consisting of 31 000 new police officers and 10 000 new police reservists.

With the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the Metropolitan Police Departments included along with the SAPS, the number of security personnel for the world cup stands at about 50 000.

Senior superintendent Naidoo said the deployment of officers across all host cities will be done strategically and all information on the situations and what to expect will be provided to them.

With regard to riot situations that could arise during the tournament, he said the French police have just finished training a contingent of about 9 000 SAPS crowd management officers using a new type of body armour developed by the French.

With the new body armour, officers are well protected yet also a lot more mobile.

The SAPS, as part of their preparations for the world cup, will also be buying 10 new water cannon vehicles which also have the capability to spray special dye onto unruly crowds.

The specially coloured dye, he explained to BuaNews, does not wash off the skin for three days and therefore gives police time to find and arrest any persons marked with the dye.

The new water cannons will be distributed throughout the host cities.

Other highly advanced technologies procured by the SAPS include a R2.7 million bomb disposal robot, and bomb disposal suits which cost R400 000 per suit, the senior superintendent said.

The SAPS was allocated R650 million for the procurement of the new assets, and recently received an additional R640 to cover deployment costs, adding up to a total budget of R1.29 billion for 2010 equipment and preparations. - BuaNews