New fingerprint ID machine nabs 140
March 26, 2004, 16:16
Police identified 140 suspects at the Johannesburg Prison, wanted for a range crimes, a government official said today. According to Mongezi Mnyani, the spokesperson for Nomvula Mokonyane, the Gauteng safety and liaison MEC, police used a new finger printing machine linked to a national crime database today, to check on prisoners already incarcerated at the Johannesburg Prison. The MEC was there to observe the exercise.
He said 140 people were identified as being on the wanted list for a number of crimes other than the ones for which they had recently been arrested "This a new method the government has been talking about for two years," said Mnyani. "The MEC has indicated we will get more of these machines."
He said there were already seven such machines in the province and these could be taken wherever they were needed. The machines, which cost in the region of R75 000 each, could be used in prisons, police stations and roadblocks.
He said Hillbrow would be the first police station to get one of these machines on a permanent basis, as crime was high in the area. Mnyani said this recent crime-fighting development was an indication that government was serious about crime. "Criminals can run from the system but they can't hide."
He said while the number of people wanted for crimes was high, that figure was not a true indication of the number of suspects on the run, as many of them were wanted for as many as five different incidents. He said the department was confident that these new machines would speed up the process of getting wanted criminals behind bars and reduce the backlog of unsolved crimes. - Sapa
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