Crime-fighter shoots down Hornkranz
Self-styled Namibian marshall ranger Sean Naude has lashed out at the way in which Operation Hornkranz is being run by police and army top brass.
Well-known Windhoek crime-fighter Sean Naude says that Operation Hornkranz is unnecessarily expensive and can be run more efficiently if the police and army stop driving around to look for crime.
Naude was responding to revelations earlier this week by police chief, Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga, that the police operation was costly.
“It does not make sense to have it on such a massive scale,” Naude said.
“You can cut the number of people involved and stop driving around unnecessarily. Instead of driving around, they can have a well-manned response centre.”
According to Naude, resources were not being managed well, leading to the spike in costs.
“There's a domestic violence case or a theft of a cellphone and you send the whole army,” Naude said. “You don't need the army for a petty crime.”
Using the fire brigade to illustrate his point, he said that fire trucks are parked at their respective dispatch centres and were only deployed when necessary.
“They should stop driving around looking for trouble; they are busy driving around for nothing. You don't see the fire department driving around with their trucks, they stand parked at their dispatch centre,” he said. According to Naude, a central dispatch centre would make it easy for the police to respond to crime incidences quicker.
Touching on other elements related to the operation, Naude blasted the actions of the security forces, after a video surfaced on social media in which an unidentified man slapped a member of the public in the presence of the army and police officers.
“They must learn how to work with people, you do not abuse your authority. People must be dealt with accordingly and not be slapped around or told to do push-ups.”
Naude likened the actions of the security forces to mob justice and said this was happening because soldiers were not ideally trained to deal with incidences of crime.
“They can't just go around slapping people, we can't just beat them up,” he said.
“People that are put out into the field must be taught people skills.”
Operation Hornkranz was initiated by President Hage Geingob in December last year as a countrywide crime-fighting initiative ahead of the festive season.
OGONE TLHAGE
Naude was responding to revelations earlier this week by police chief, Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga, that the police operation was costly.
“It does not make sense to have it on such a massive scale,” Naude said.
“You can cut the number of people involved and stop driving around unnecessarily. Instead of driving around, they can have a well-manned response centre.”
According to Naude, resources were not being managed well, leading to the spike in costs.
“There's a domestic violence case or a theft of a cellphone and you send the whole army,” Naude said. “You don't need the army for a petty crime.”
Using the fire brigade to illustrate his point, he said that fire trucks are parked at their respective dispatch centres and were only deployed when necessary.
“They should stop driving around looking for trouble; they are busy driving around for nothing. You don't see the fire department driving around with their trucks, they stand parked at their dispatch centre,” he said. According to Naude, a central dispatch centre would make it easy for the police to respond to crime incidences quicker.
Touching on other elements related to the operation, Naude blasted the actions of the security forces, after a video surfaced on social media in which an unidentified man slapped a member of the public in the presence of the army and police officers.
“They must learn how to work with people, you do not abuse your authority. People must be dealt with accordingly and not be slapped around or told to do push-ups.”
Naude likened the actions of the security forces to mob justice and said this was happening because soldiers were not ideally trained to deal with incidences of crime.
“They can't just go around slapping people, we can't just beat them up,” he said.
“People that are put out into the field must be taught people skills.”
Operation Hornkranz was initiated by President Hage Geingob in December last year as a countrywide crime-fighting initiative ahead of the festive season.
OGONE TLHAGE
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