ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <head> <title>((( TRACKER - News Headlines)))</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/> <link href="../../App_Themes/Tracker/styles/default.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <h2 style="color:#E20A16; text-align:center;">SAPS WESTERN CAPE  WAR ROOM AND LADY CONSTABLE SCOOP TOP HONOURS AT CRIME FIGHTING AWARDS</h2> <h3 style="color:#E20A16; text-align:center;">-  War Room and Tracker achieve unprecedented arrest rate</h3> <p align="right"><em>September 21, 2009</em></p> <p style="margin-top: 0;"><strong>The <span style="font-style:italic;">SAPS Western Cape  War Room Observation Team and Constable CN Mantshule of the Sydenham Crime Prevention Unit</span> in KwaZulu Natal have scooped top honours at the 2009 National Tracker-SAPS Awards Ceremony held in Centurion today.</strong></p> <p>The event, sponsored by vehicle tracking giant, Tracker, is attended by government ministers, high commissioners, various SAPS dignitaries and business leaders and aims to honour those law enforcement officers and units whose efforts over the past year have helped significantly to combat vehicle crime in South Africa. The awards are judged between Tracker and senior police officials. </p> <p>Below is the list of national nominees for both the <span style="font-style:italic;">Individual Officer</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Unit</span> categories: </p> <p><strong style="text-decoration:underline;">Individual Officer:</strong><br /> <br /> 1. Inspector E R Matthee, Insp B G Benz, Insp M A Shange and Insp R Olivier (SAPS, ACCU Johannesburg).<br /> 2. Inspector E DE W Brandt (SAPS Dog Unit, Polokwane).<br /> 3. Captain R Schilling (SAPS Dog Unit, Ermelo).<br /> 4. Captain Botha (SAPS Flying Squad, Rustenburg).<br /> <strong style="color:Blue;">5. Constable C N Mantshule (SAPS Crime Prevention Unit, Sydenham) OVERALL INDIVIDUAL WINNER.</strong><br /> 6. Inspector J Lourens (SAPS Dog Unit, Cape Town).<br /> 7. Captain S Marais (SAPS Communications, Duncan Village).<br /> 8. Sergeant R N Titus, (SAPS Radio Technical Unit, Northern Cape).<br /> 9. Sergeant M Pienaar (SAPS Dog Unit, Bloemfontein).<br /> </p> <p><strong style="text-decoration:underline;">Unit:</strong><br /> <br /> 1. SAPS Dog Unit, North East Rand (Gauteng).<br /> 2. SAPS Motetema (Limpopo).<br /> 3. SAPS Dog Unit, White River (Mpumalanga).<br /> 4. SAPS Flying Squad, Rustenburg (North West). <br /> 5. SAPS Crime Prevention Unit, Umlazi (KZN).<br /> 6. SAPS Flying Squad, Bloemfontein (Free State).<br /> 7. SAPS Radio Control, Kimberley (Northern Cape).<br /> <strong style="color:Blue;">8. SAPS "War Room" Observation Team, (Western Cape) OVERALL UNIT WINNER.</strong><br /> 9. SAPS Flying Squad, Mthatha (Eastern Cape).<br /> </p> <p><strong>Note: </strong><span style="font-style:italic;">The nominees were selected from the winners of their respective provincial awards.</span></p> <p>The recipients of the main awards each received a trophy and a certificate and a monetary donation was made on their behalf to a charity of their choice. In addition to this and, for the second time in the ten-year history of the awards, the winners were awarded an international trip to their choice of training seminars held and run by *IAATI  the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators. Last year s winners recently attended the national seminar in Denver, Colorado.</p> <p>These officers will not only be able to learn new skills to better equip them in their fight against crime, but they will be able to bring their learnings back with them which they can then share with their colleagues.</p> <p>Says Tracker s Chief Executive Officer, Alan Hutcheson:  After 13 years of working closely together we firmly believe that the Tracker-SAPS relationship is one of the most successful public-private sector partnerships ever seen in South Africa. Together, we have recovered almost 47 000 stolen and hijacked vehicles which has resulted in more than 8200 arrests and the shutting down of over 310 chop shops and crime syndicates. </p> <p> I would like to pay tribute to the selfless efforts of all those police officers who constantly risk their lives so that we may live in a better, safer South Africa, commented Hutcheson.</p> <p><strong>Supporting the children of fallen police officers</strong></p> <p>To pay tribute to the sacrifices made by police officers throughout South Africa, Tracker continues to sponsor the <span style="font-style:italic">National Tracker-SAPS Bursary Fund.</span></p> <p>The Fund provides tertiary merit bursaries for the children of police officers who have been lost in the line of duty and is currently helping to educate some 40 students at universities and technikons throughout the country.</p> <p> Although there is nothing we can do to bring back these slain police officers, by providing their children with a meaningful education we are paying tribute to them in the best way possible. We are enormously proud of the project, commented Hutcheson.</p> <p style="color:#E20A16; text-decoration:underline;"><strong>Judges citations on the winners:</strong></p> <p><strong style="color:Blue; text-decoration:underline;">Top Police Unit: </strong><strong>SAPS Western Cape  War Room Observation Team (headed by Captain H.X. Mbada).</strong> </p> <p> Tracker Western Cape had an exceptional year in 2008/2009 and played a pivotal role in combating crime in the province. This role was not confined to vehicle theft and hijacking, but also contributed to the fight against syndicates involved in other crimes. During May 2008 the Provincial Commissioner, Commissioner Petros, initiated the  War Room . This followed after the Western Cape was targeted by crime syndicates and hijackings soared in the province. The sole purpose of the  War Room was to centralize information and to establish profiles on criminals. Tracker approached the  War Room and offered to help as we believed we could make a valuable contribution to this initiative. After several meetings to establish the ground rules we were allowed to participate. Tracker committed that upon activation of a stolen or hijacked vehicle the company would liaise with the  War Room members in order to observe the vehicle. Our tactics focussed strongly on not only recovering the stolen or hijacked vehicle, but on affecting arrests wherever possible. </p> <p>A key focus was on bringing down the heads of the syndicates. The initiative worked exceptionally well and led to the arrest of 163 suspects in seven months. <strong>This equals one arrest for every second vehicle activated.</strong> It also led to the recovery of 22 additional vehicles that were not fitted with a tracking system. A total of six unlicensed firearms were recovered and within six months we were able to see a decline in our activations. This was due to a well oiled machine that literally steamrolled the syndicates. </p> <p><strong style="color:Blue; text-decoration:underline;">Top Individual Officer: </strong><strong>Constable C N Mantshule (SAPS Crime Prevention Unit, Sydenham  KwaZulu Natal)</strong> </p> <p> Constable Mantshule, (Charity, as she is more affectionately known) is attached to the Sydenham Crime Prevention Unit in Durban. This unit has been nominated several times over the years.</p> <p>Charity has on many occasions tracked vehicles outside of her patrol area, often recovering these vehicles before police units operating in the area. Over the past year, she has been involved in the recovery of some 160 sought motor vehicles. In addition, she has helped us with SkyTrax verifications and assists. She also often trains new recruits that are posted in the Crime Prevention unit at Sydenham. </p> <p>Police members who work with her have clearly benefited from her work ethic and expertise and are performing well in their own right. Charity does not believe her work is done once the stolen vehicle has been recovered and is always willing to assist with the perceived  softer issues such as fetching spare keys from clients, transporting clients to the police station, and so on. She often works beyond the requirements of her shift to ensure that every aspect of the recovery is a success. In addition, she has assisted on numerous occasions with tracking demonstrations.</p> <p>Charity has been fired upon on several occasions during vehicle tracks, yet remains firmly committed to her work. It is not uncommon for her to single-handedly pursue vehicle criminals and affect arrests in the course of her duties. </p> <p><strong style="text-decoration:underline;">Successes of the Tracker/SAPS partnership</strong></p> <p>The Tracker/SAPS partnership has been in place since 1996 and has made significant inroads in the fight against vehicle crime. </p> <p style="color:#E20A16; text-decoration:underline;"><strong>Tracker-SAPS vital stats</strong></p> <p>Over the past 13 years, the following has been achieved (based on Tracker s customer base of some 570 000 vehicles):</p> <table border="1px"> <tr> <td><strong>Recoveries</strong></td> <td><strong>46 401 <span style="color:Fuchsia;">*</span></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Arrests</strong></td> <td><strong>8211 <span style="color:Fuchsia;">*</span></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Vehicles  not fitted with a Tracker recovered</strong></td> <td><strong>1527 <span style="color:Fuchsia;">*</span></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Firearms recovered</strong></td> <td><strong>334 <span style="color:Fuchsia;">*</span></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Chop Shops and Syndicates exposed</strong></td> <td><strong>318 <span style="color:Fuchsia;">*</span></strong></td> </tr> </table> <p></p> <p style="color:Fuchsia;"><strong>* The most in Africa, by any vehicle tracking company.</strong></p> <p style="color:#E20A16; text-decoration:underline;"><strong>Interesting Tracker-SAPS facts:</strong></p> <table> <tr> <td>-> </td> <td>Tracker and the SAPS have successfully recovered a Cape Town businessman s vehicle 12 times over the past six years. Tracker submitted the case to Guinness in the United States believing it to be  The World s Most Stolen Car . However, an official from Guinness replied that no suitable category existed for the feat but was certain that it was a world record anyway.</td> </tr> <tr></tr> <tr> <td>-> </td> <td>Tracker and the SAPS once recovered a stolen vehicle and discovered cash boxes on the back seat carrying more than R20-million. The vehicle had just been used in a cash-in-transit heist minutes before.</td> </tr> <tr></tr> <tr> <td>-> </td> <td>In addition to stolen and hijacked cars, the Tracker-SAPS partnership has recovered a wide array of stolen and counterfeit goods over the years including ice cream machines, solar panels, heavy-duty earth moving equipment, drugs, counterfeit fashion labels, illegal identity documents and passports and even wild game.</td> </tr> <tr></tr> <tr> <td>-> </td> <td>Over the past decade, Tracker s recoveries have saved the economy more than R4-billion in replacing stolen and hijacked vehicles alone.</td> </tr> <tr></tr> <tr> <td>-> </td> <td>What do the following blockbuster films and famous book have in common: Gone in Sixty Seconds, Die Hard 4.0 and The DaVinci Code? They all carry references to LoJack  the global leaders in vehicle tracking and Tracker s technology partners in the United States.</td> </tr> <tr></tr> <tr> <td>-> </td> <td>Tracker s statistics reflect that more than half of all hijackings occur while people are leaving or arriving for home or work. In driveways, in other words.</td> </tr> </table> <p></p> <p>Tracker is the only vehicle tracking company in South Africa to formally partner with the South African Police Service, with its vehicle tracking technology installed in some 1100 police vehicles and 42 aircraft.</p> <p style="font-style:italic;">* IAATI is a world body formed in 1952 to improve communication and co-ordination between various law enforcement agencies and nations working to combat vehicle crime across the globe. The organization collects valuable data from around the world that is even used by the likes of Interpol.</p> <img id="img1" alt="" src="../../App_Themes/Tracker/images/news_saps_westerncape_1.jpg" /> <p><strong>Captain MX Mbada (inside left) receives the award on behalf of the Western Cape 'War Room' Observation team for best Unit of the Year. He is congratulated by Tracker Board Member, Paul Nkuna (left), the Honourable Minister of Police, Mr Nathi Mthethwa (inside right) and Tracker Chief Executive Officer, Alan Hutcheson (right).</strong></p> <img id="img2" alt="" src="../../App_Themes/Tracker/images/news_saps_westerncape_2.jpg" /> <p><strong>Constable CN (Charity) Mantshule from the Crime Prevention Unit in Sydenham (KZN) is awarded the Tracker-SAPS 2009 Award for Top Individual Officer of the Year in combating vehicle crime. She is joined by (from left) Tracker Board Member, Paul Nkuna, The Honourable Minister of Police, Mr Nathi Mthethwa and Tracker Chief Executive Officer, Alan Hutcheson.</strong></p> </body> </html>