Police have broken the back of ATM robbers

We are critical when we must be but we must also give credit when credit is due. If the decrease in ATM bombings is indeed a fact then we must praise the police.

It goes to show one thing, when we acknowledge that a problem exists, when we do not sugar coat the problem, we can then put into place an effective regime to deal with it. That is all we citizens ask.

- - -

Police have claimed the sudden, but sustained decline in the scourge of ATM bombings as a victory for sustained multi-faceted policing.

Officers believe they have broken the back of the crime that replaced cash-in-transit heists in news bulletins and newspaper front pages.

Police now believe the co-ordinated operation spearheaded by the elite national invention unit may have paid dividends, not least among them the arrest of 400 suspects.

"Our crime intelligence was sharp and by arresting the big fish behind the crime, we broke the back of the syndicate," said national police spokesperson, Director Phuti Setati.

"Through the use of our intelligence we were able to receive information about planned attacks before they could actually happen. Incidents reported were well-investigated and arrests were carried out immediately."

The number of ATMs blown up nationwide this year was nearing 400, with experts predicting they would increase to 500 before the end of the year, to equal 2007's figure.

What was worrying was the dramatic increase in attacks from just five recorded in 2004, coupled to the increasing military precision of the nature of the attacks.

In July alone, the South African Banking and Risk Information Centre (Sabric) recorded 58 attacks across the country with at least five of them taking place in a single night.

In September, this dropped to eight for the month.

Gauteng, which recorded the highest number in July, accounting for 34 incidents of the 58, has so far seen only two incidents according to Sabric.

But experts have warned that police cannot rest easy just yet.

Alan Townsend, a global ATM industry adviser on security matters, was cautious to declare this a victory, but he said provided the relative calm of two months could be supported by evidence, it could be justified.

"I am aware that a great deal of good work has been going on behind the scenes involving the police and others to provide a coordinated response to the ATM bombings and other ATM crime, that is clearly paying dividends," he said.

Having spent 30 years in the UK police service and more recently working with the ATM industry, Townsend said: "I have come to learn that one should never underestimate criminals, particularly the more professional and organised. Therefore, I would never say the war on any crime is won."

Barbara Holtmann, head of the crime prevention research unit at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, said while this may be a victory for police, it will remain so only in the short-term.

"Crime changes all the time. The halting of ATM bombings should be seen in the same light as what was done to the bank robberies of the 1990s, the cash heists that began in the year 2000 and the cross pavements bank heists that followed thereafter. In each case police and others clearly had victory, but for how long?

"Unfortunately, criminals always innovate to a new crime so the challenge for the police now is to imagine what the next crime trend will be."

Holtmann said she never doubted that police would arrest the key people behind the ATM bombing phenomenon.

"That's what enforcement does. It displaces the crime, but it can never stop people from wanting to commit it. It's therefore important that we start investing in changing people's mind. We need to support police by investing in different kinds of people."

Sabric CEO Kalyani Pillay attributed the success by police to information sharing between the stakeholders, the formation of rapid response teams and the infiltration by police upon receiving information.

"The fact is crime has been significantly reduced in the past two months," she said.

"I'm pleased with police efforts that led to this success story and believe they are now more than ever on the brink of winning the battle."

Pillay added that a number of solutions were being considered, including the use of high technology to help support the efforts made by the police.

According to Townsend, what has been learnt in other countries was that provided all the partners involved in tackling ATM crime continue to work together, there is a "likelihood that the good guys can stay one step ahead of the bad guys" with innovative joint strategies.

He expected the global ATM industry to react positively to the news of the decrease of criminal attacks on ATMs in SA.

In ATM terms, he continued, "what affects one nation today, would probably affect another country tomorrow".

Ironically, for the first time in Mozambique this week, gangs of armed criminals used the South African technique to blast their way into an ATM in Maputo.

But Holtmann noted that the current success in SA had come at a "terrible" cost to police and the country.

"Not only the cost in human lives, but also the diversion of resources that would have been used elsewhere to improve the lives of the rest of the society," she added.