Crime is high in the eastern suburbs of Johannesburg, however, none of the four local police stations conduct proper sector policing patrols round the clock.
This is according to Gauteng Provincial Legislature member and Democratic Alliance Gauteng Caucus leader, Jack Bloom.
Bloom said this was revealed by Gauteng Community Safety MEC, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane in a written reply to his questions in the Gauteng Legislature.
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According to Bloom, the prescribed standard is two vehicles patrolling each sector for 24 hours, but according to the reply, which provides information on the Jeppe, Yeoville, Cleveland and Sandringham police stations, this only happens in one out of 13 sectors in the suburbs covered by these stations.
“The Sandringham Police Station performs best with two vehicles patrolling the one sector round the clock, and one vehicle patrolling the other sector,” Bloom said.
“There is only one vehicle, and often nothing at all, patrolling in the four sectors that fall under the Jeppe station, the four Cleveland station sectors, and the three Yeoville station sectors.”
Bloom said the police blame the lack of 24-hour vehicle patrols on a shortage of personnel and vehicles at the four stations.
“Jeppe is the worst affected station as it is short of seven vehicles and 44 staff. This is very concerning as it has the highest crime rate, with 2 764 serious contact crimes which include murder, assaults and robbery and 1 492 property-related crimes in the period April last year to March this year.
“Cleveland station is short of four vehicles and eight policemen, Sandringham is short of one vehicle but is otherwise fully staffed and Yeoville is not short of any vehicles but is short of seven staff,” said Bloom.
Crimes reported at these stations from April last year to March this year are as follows:
- Cleveland: 1 147 contact crimes and 884 property crimes
- Yeoville: 1 737 contact crimes and 889 property crimes
- Sandringham: 630 contact crimes and 556 property crimes.
“My information is that the vehicle shortage is often because police vehicles spend weeks and sometimes months waiting for repairs in badly run workshops.
“Speeding up vehicle repairs would help as well as filling all police vacancies and using existing staff more efficiently,” recommended Bloom.
Details: 10111.
Edited by Stacey Woensdregt
