Mitchell’s Plain has some of the best detectives in the country.
With a group of 112 detectives working across three teams under the leadership of component head for Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Col Tony Roux, the detectives have had years of successes and improvements in large volumes of investigations.
These detectives are divided into teams dealing with general investigations, which include assaults, theft and stolen property, economic crime, which included house break-ins, car theft and business robberies and serious and violent crimes such as murders, attempted murder, firearms and hijacking among others.
A fourth component in the CID is made up of administrative staff.
Roux says under the leadership of Brig Cass Goolam and his approach to team work, the CID has grown from strength to strength.
“For the book year 2021/22 the station was in the top 30 in the country for nine out of the 12 months. This is number one for performance,” he says.
This is judged on the volumes of crimes investigated and turn around time for convictions or results, he says.
The Mitchell’s Plain police station is a priority station.
This means it is rated in the top 30 nationally for the highest volumes of crimes reported.
While this may have a negative connotation for some, Goolam says this can be seen as a positive.
“This is based on the volumes of crimes reported. This means it is a good thing.
“We are seeing people reporting crimes which speaks to the relationship we have built with the community. They have the confidence to come and report crimes,” says Goolam.
Roux says they have implemented a Prevention of Organised Crime act (POCA) approach to combating and investigating crimes perpetrated in the precinct.
“We are a station conventional detective unit, not a specialised unit. POCA is applied to serious crimes, but using it as a tool to investigate crimes at a station level has had a serious impact on crime,” says Roux.
POCA, for example promotes the combatting of entire units and criminal organisations, rather than just one criminal component of a crime.
“For example, arresting a drug kingpin, rather than merely the user or runner.
Team work on all levels has been key to their success.
“We all work together. From contact and tracing, to collecting information, to the vispol component. It really is a team effort,” says Roux.
“Building trust with the community has also helped a lot.”
Their numbers of successes has improved year on year from 2015. Roux says, it becomes a competition among yourself to continue improving on your own numbers, using the previous year as a baseline.
They hope to again improve on their successes for the 2022/23 book year.
