Alan Peat
TWO DAYS ago (February 28) marked the official disbandment of the SA Police Services (SAPS) national anti-hijack unit, a date which is a black moment for the road trucking industry.
The unit members have now been given new posts for which they have applied, but move far away from the cohesive strength of this much-praised anti-hijack unit. The squad is now spread far-and-near as ordinary detectives on the beat.
Bad news, said Clifford Blackburn, managing director of IDC, one of the many trucking executives who have had great faith in the crime-busting propensities of the now defunct anti-hijack squad.
They say that the new FBI-style system is to be more effective and efficient, he added. But these guys have been at it for over a decade, and you can't just replace them overnight.
There's little that can be done, Blackburn lamented, now that the restructuring exercise is a fait accompli, although he believes that a protest has been directed to the Minister of Law & Order about the matter.
The only practical thing we can do, he said, is to employ our own security.
And that might very well, he added, include previous members of the anti-hijack squad.
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