People visiting the Benoni Police Station client service centre are welcome to do so, but they must not come with anger.
This was the message the Benoni SAPS station commander sent out to the community at a Community Policing Forum (CPF) public meeting, at Benoni Junior School, on June 12.
The message was directed to people who get upset with police officers in the client service centre.
“People get angry with us, people get upset with us, it does not help to come to the client service centre and get angry because I am spending 10 minutes in the queue, or 15 minutes in the queue, or 40 minutes in the queue,” said Poobalan Subbiah.
He said the young policemen “can only do so much” on their 12-hour shifts and that hours into the shift, officers become less productive.
”The rest of it, the guy is like a zombie, and it’s not because he wants to be the zombie; the work load: he is constantly writing, he is constantly questioning, he is writing a docket,” he explained.
“Very, very few people can tolerate that.”
The station commander said people who require documents certified also place pressure of the office, but that he cannot turn them away.
He did say that there are alternatives, such as school principals and the Metro Police, who are also commissioners of oaths.
Subbiah explained that there are changes underway at the station, which will include a separate office for certifications.
