Shooting skills and the fitness levels of officers at the Edenvale Police Station will be highlighted in Parliament.
According to Member of Parliament, MP Michael Waters, seven police officers at the station have to go for firearm retraining while five have failed their firearm proficiency test completely.
“When a police officer fails their shooting practice, they go for retraining and their firearm is taken away,” said MP Waters.
MP Waters recently joined Edenvale ward councillors, Clr Heather Hart and Clr Bill Rundle, on an oversight visit to the station.
“We congratulate Colonel Trollip on his appointment as the station commander and we wish him well in ensuring Edenvale Police Station becomes a first class police station,” said MP Waters.
He added that one of the concerns noted during the visit was that staffing strength at the station was based on older, lower population figures and was not updated for five years.
“The station has 129 police officers and 24 administration personnel. This includes 38 detectives, of which 19 are investigating officers,” said MP Waters.
The average case load for each detective is 70 cases, however two detectives are dealing with 250 cases each.
“The detectives have 16 vehicles but only 10 are in working condition. The result is nearly four detectives to each vehicle. I will be taking this matter up in Parliament with the minister of police,” said MP Waters.
He added that the client service office, visible policing and crime prevention have 89 police officers, and have a total of 17 vehicles of which three are in for repairs.
“The station does not have a full time cleaner, which is affecting the cleanliness of the station as one person comes in once a week to clean,” said MP Waters.
The station has a total of 34 vehicles of which two are trailers.
15 of the vehicles are used for visible policing, which includes the three trucks used to transport those arrested to various courts.
“Another issue I intend taking up in Parliament is that there are no consequences when police members fail their fitness tests. We need police officers who can actually run after suspects when the need arises,” said MP Waters.
@EdenvaleJourno
