We watch the police and the police watch us THE COMBINED private sector/police/customs task-force - intended to combat container theft at City Deep/Kazerne in Johannesburg - is fighting a winning battle, according to Isobel Louw of Saftainer/ Roadwing, one of the five organisations in the industry team.
Said Louw, the driving force behind this big business/ authorities co-operation: At this stage, we are busy re-arranging the police station. In charge of this is Superintendent Marius Nel, head of the Kazerne Truck Theft Unit, who is busy clearing-up the old case dockets; bringing in new detectives; and having them trained-up in all the tricks-of-the-trade, to form a specialised, container-crime unit. This team will work in liaison with the Isando Truck Hijack Unit and a squad of risk managers (effectively private detectives) employed by Roadwing, CX-Transnet, Container Logistics, and Cross Country Containers. These four organisations, along with Mediterranean Shipping Company, are behind the R1-million invested in this anti-theft project.
It's our own industry's version of the suburban community policing efforts, said Louw. We are in daily communication with the police, trying to build up a mutual bank of information intended to combat container theft.
It's also a two-way affair in that we watch the police, and the police watch us. This makes corruption that much more difficult, with a need for any criminal elements to have collusion with four, five or more people - both in the police and in the private companies.
