Cops firing on large cylinders
Metro Police and the SA Police Service are firing up their engines as the need for speed remains crucial in maintaining order on South Africa's roads. The City of Cape Town recently procured 11 new high-speed Lexus IS 200t vehicles for their "Ghost Squad" unit which is used to pursue high-speed offenders. The cars go from 0-100km in 5.9 seconds with a top speed of 225km/h.Last month the Tshwane metro police got 10 BMW 3-series cars for their anti-hijack unit.Councillor for safety and security in Cape Town JP Smith said the newly procured, unmarked vehicles, which cost R473000 each, met all the performance specifications required by the metro police in their pursuits. "The ghost squad spends a lot of time with special operations to deal with drag racing and they need fast cars or the drag-racers will just elude them," Smith said."[Racers] don't stop and often have no licence plates so to prosecute them you have to stop the car and make an arrest."Durban's metro police have five BMW 3s and four VW Golf GTI 6s which, said Superintendent Sbonelo Mchunu, had reduced their response time to six minutes...
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