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Drunk driving remains the highest offence in Johannesburg, according to the latest statistics by the metro police.
This was announced by the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) during the release of crime statistics for the period July to September 2018.
JMPD Chief David Tembe said 664 arrests were made for drunk driving in September – a decrease from the figures for August when 718 arrests were recorded.
Read: Drunk drivers are Joburg's biggest offenders - JMPD
The statistics do not include crimes typically handled by the South African Police Service (SAPS), Tembe stressed.
"Even people who [drove] taxis in the morning, we [found] them driving under the influence," Tembe said.
He said 18 arrests were conducted for reckless driving, while 37 stolen or hijacked vehicles were recovered. A kilogramme of drugs was confiscated in September, Tembe added.
He said the JMPD was also conducting operations in nightclubs.
"Operation Nightlife was started after it was discovered that people were making noise at the nightclubs."
He said that 193 operations were conducted in September and that 857 people were searched, 308 citations were issued and six arrests were made.
Successful crime prevention roadside checks led to 65 arrests in September.
There were 670 vehicles that were impounded through operations aimed at detecting unroadworthy taxis and vehicles.
According to the report, the City has also issued 200 201 Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) infringement notices for the month of September.
Also read: Cape Town clamps down hard on drunk drivers as mobile alcohol testing centre hits the streets
Tembe stressed that most of the operations that the department carried out could not be done without the assistance of the SAPS.
He added that from July to September 25, buildings categorised as "bad" were raided which resulted in 12 arrests.
Tremendous growth in JMPD, SAPS relationship
Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba also stressed that safety remained a key concern for the City. It was for that reason that they also issued monthly crime statistic reports.
"It is important to deal with the issue, which is why we have chosen this particular path of releasing these stats on a monthly basis," Mashaba said.
Mashaba added that they hoped to force the national criminal justice system to actually act on the information provided by the JMPD.
"With this exercise, we are putting the national criminal justice system under pressure to do its job.
"As for the City of Johannesburg and the multi-party government that I lead, we will always have our focus on making this City as dangerous as possible for criminals to co-operate in," Mashaba said.
Read more: 2 JMPD officers killed after drunk driver crashes into roadblock
He said they pleaded with the National Prosecuting Authority to work with the City to ensure that all those arrested were successfully prosecuted, because the City officials did not have the power to conduct prosecutions.
Mashaba said it was important that the crime statistics be released monthly so that residents would know what type of crimes to look out for.
"Every arrest, every encounter I need recorded so that our residents can know the type of crimes that we are facing, the patterns and the areas," he said.
Mashaba added that they had seen tremendous growth in the relationship between the JMPD and the SAPS and that it was also evident in their response to recent protests in Westbury.
"The weakness is in the prosecution because at the end of the day, we can arrest, but if people are not prosecuted, unfortunately, that relationship is not going to be of any value to anyone," Mashaba said.
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