Police Minister General Bheki Cele has handed over 130 cars to the Local Criminal Records Centre (LCRC) of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The vehicles are set to enhance and improve, among other functions, the response time to crime scenes by crime scene experts.

Speaking at the handover ceremony held at the Pretoria Police Academy, Cele said progress is being made in capacitating the police.

“We are working very hard to capacitate the organisation,” Cele said on Friday 7 June, adding that student police officers are part of the plan to the capacitate the force.

“We had to go Parliament, to the Portfolio Committee to be given permission to purchase this equipment that is supposed to be used by the intelligence world. Our job is to prevent, combat and investigate.”

Cele said the vehicles will play a role in assisting the police in their investigations, linking suspects to crime scenes through evidence collection and analysis.

Some of the vehicles will be distributed to the provinces.

Last month the Minister officiated at a ceremony where 78 vehicles were handed over to the Illicit Mining task teams also known as Operation Vala Umgodi.

Since inception in December 2023, Operation Vala Umgodi has resulted in the arrest of more than 6000 suspects including the seizure of uncut diamonds worth R32 million.

Public Order Policing Units received 52 minibuses. These units are key role players in responding to large gatherings and protests.