Cape Town – Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer has dismissed calls to reintroduce specialised police drug and gang units.

“The successes when it comes to drugs are because every single police officer accepts ownership in the fight against drugs,” he told journalists at the release of the Western Cape’s 2012/13 crime statistics in Cape Town on Friday.

“If we have a specific unit to do that, the ownership goes to that unit alone… we’ve seen it and history has taught us that.”

Lamoer emphasised that specialised investigating units, such as the Hawks and a task team, were analysing “certain trends” in the province.

The latest statistics, for the financial year from April 2012 to March 2013, painted a bleak picture for the Western Cape.

Violent crime, such as murder, assault, and robbery, increased by 10%, and Nyanga in Cape Town was again singled out for its murder rate.

Recently, the national government, the Western Cape government, and the City of Cape Town said they would work together to address the underlying causes of the high crime rate in the area.

“We want to welcome the initiatives from the provincial government in the Nyanga area,” Lamoer said.

“Safety and security can never only be the responsibility of the SA Police Service [SAPS].”

In 2012/13, 262 people were murdered in Nyanga.

Besides Nyanga, four other areas in Cape Town were among the areas with the top 10 highest murder rates in the country.

Khayelitsha had 168 murders, Harare 132, Gugulethu 129, and Delft 113.

The increased crime rates could be ascribed to a “toxic mix” of factors, such as gangsterism, drugs, and domestic violence, he said.

– SAPA