By Neelam Rahim

Former Western Cape top cop Jeremy Vearey has called on the government to bring back the specialized firearm investigation unit. Vearey, a consultant at Guns Free South Africa, previously headed up the Western Cape Anti-Gang Unit. He reacted after several deadly attacks on taverns across the country, with firearms involved in all of the attacks.

Radio Islam speaks to Jeremy Vearey.

Jeremy said the context from which it arose was during the mid-90s was a period flooding a lot of illegal and automatic weapons involved in various conflicts. 

“Related to our past that the political violence and third force activity. An approach that required dedicated investigation to find those guns was needed. Then building proper cases against people who traffic those weapons is not finding them and charging people with immediate possession of it but taking a step further. And that required a much more different type of approach towards the job. It was intensely intelligence driven. And it required highly specialized dedicated detective capability to deal with it. It was a context of a proliferation of firearms out there that needed to be caught back systematically to deal with things. We need to zoom in a group of people, and build proper cases to reach the traffickers behind it,” says Jeremy.

According to Jeremy, in terms of policing itself, the resource argument is a misnomer. 

“We never had enough resources, and we will probably never have enough resources to deal with all of the claims. So strategically, look at what you have, and look at how you can craft a new ways of doing things with what you have.”

Jeremy further mentions, “This is an operational matter, not a political matter which does not require the minister’s permission, although it would be welcomed. We use the resources and our authority as managers and our strategic sense to develop a response with what we have.”

Listen to the full interview on Radio Islam’s podcast below.