Over 1 000 arrested in Johannesburg CBD during New Year’s Eve crossover operations

Over 1 000 arrests made in the Johannesburg CBD this past New Year's Eve included for drunk driving, possession of firearms, drugs and contraventions of the Immigration Act.

It was all in a night's work for Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers who were out on one of the busiest nights of the year.

Xolani Fihla, JMPD spokesperson explains.

"We had a joint operation with the SAPS in the Joburg inner city where we had a road block on one of the main arterials where we had also Home Affairs."

Fihla says the integrated multidisciplinary operations have proven particularly useful in combatting crime.

"We know that more boots on the ground is definitley a force multiplier and makes us spread across the province in an effective way."

And more visibilty equals a greater detterent to the city's criminal element, he says.

The ground-breaking collaboration ​​was introduced in April last year by Premier of Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, together with executive mayors and mayoral representatives from Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Midvaal, Lesedi, and Mogale City.

They signed off on the plan to bolster the province's fight against crime through unified law enforcement efforts with SAPS also becoming a signatory.

"The signing of this agreement does away with red tape and administrative bureaucracy. It ushers in a borderless Gauteng—one where we can jointly deploy resources to tackle crime. Wherever a drug dealer, murderer, thief, rapist, hijacker, or GBV perpetrator may be, we will find them. Municipal borders will no longer hinder our mission," Lesufi said at the time.

To listen to Xolani Fihla, JMPD spokesperson in converstion with Mongezi Koko on The Midday Report, click audio below