Durban – The SAPS Visible Policing Division's festive season crime fighting efforts have been bolstered thanks to the hand over of an H125 Airbus helicopter.
National police spokesperson, Colonel Athlenda Mathe, said the new helicopter will also help in SAPS Search and Rescue operations.
Speaking during the handing over ceremony, held at Grand Central Airport in Midrand on Monday, General Fannie Masemola said resourcing and equipping the SAPS operational environments remains a top priority.
"This helicopter came at the very right time, when we are entering the peak of our festive season operations; there is work out there cut for its size. We continue to resource our visible and operational response environment with vehicles and other resources to strengthen our crime-combating efforts. For now, this helicopter will be based in Gauteng to bolster crime-combating operations," he added.
Mathe said the aircraft and helicopters of the SAPS Air Wing are responsible for policing operations ranging from routine patrols to search and rescue (SAR) operations. They are also used to support high-risk units, including the Special Task Force (STF), the Counter Assault Team (CAT), the National Intervention Unit (NIU), Tactical Response Teams (TRTs) and the Public Order Police (POP) units. They also provide operational support during public unrest and crowd control operations, as well as vehicle, stock and game theft operations.
"They mainly focus on tracking and tracing suspects in high-risk incidents such as cash-in-transit heists, armed robberies, hijacking's and a host of other serious and violent crimes. Police officers who are deployed to work on board are called Airborne Law Enforcement Officers. Apart from providing air support to specialised teams on the ground, these members are trained in assisting SAPS pilots with observations and also reading of aerial maps," she said.
IOL