National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele said 1097 people were arrested for crimes including murder, robbery and rape.
"Thus far, I am quite pleased with the hard work, dedication and determination displayed by our members. I am confident that we are making a serious dent on crime and we will squeeze the criminals to zero," Cele said in a statement.
Some 263 were arrested in the Western Cape province, making it the province with the highest number of arrests in the country.
In a parallel operation Western Cape police traced and arrested 337 wanted suspects for various serious crimes.
Limpopo was second highest with a total of 132 people arrested during the festive season.
Some 103 people were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal, while Gauteng came fourth with 97 arrests.
The Free State and the Eastern Cape provinces netted 83 and 75 arrests respectively with seven arrests made in the North West provinces.
Mpumalanga and Northern Cape provinces were yet to file their arrests statistics.
The presence of uniformed police officers and the visibility of uniformed officers was said to have contributed to the high number of arrests made during December.
Joint operations between police, metro police, the Road Traffic Inspectorate and other government departments also resulted in numerous arrests during Thursday's New Year celebrations.
Police carried out operations including road blocks, stop and search operations as well as high visibility of uniformed members in vehicle and foot patrols and 24 hour air support.
"I am convinced that nothing beats police visibility, the maximum deployment of our officers throughout the country has yielded good results.
"And this will certainly continue beyond the festive season as part of our strategy going forward," Cele said.
Sapa
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