Midrand police held a briefing session on 7 June to announce the recently appointed station management.
Midrand Police Station appointed four colonels who will serve as deputy station commanders.
According to the Station Commander Brigadier David Tsotsotso, one of the requirements for a brigadier station is to have numerous deputies. “As of 1 November last year, Colonel David Mahloromela, the head of Visible Policing [all officials dressed in uniform], was appointed as a colonel at the station, and a month later Colonel Hoseah Mantji was appointed a colonel on 1 December last year. Mantji is the head of support [back-up] including equipment, vehicles and members.”
The last appointment on 1 June was that of Colonel Andrei de Klerk to head the crime office handling detectives. Colonel David Seshibe, the head of police at the Pan African Parliament (PAN), has joined the list of deputies recently but has been ranked a colonel for a number of years.
The chairperson of the Community Policing Forum (CPF) Steven Johnstone was also present at the meeting. “The CPF is a link between the police and the community as well as the community oversight on police programmes,” said Johnstone.
“The CPF is made up of the five sectors of Midrand known as the sector crime forum, a subcommittee of the CPF. All sector leaders are elected by their community every five years, the next elections will be in 2020.”
Johnstone highlighted that all volunteers are trained to be able to assist the police even though they are a non-confrontational block watch.
Brigadier Tsotsotso revealed that the station has made some improvements and intensified crime-fighting initiatives to assist the community and improve services.
Mahloromela said the police have increased the number of integrated operations including Metro police, block watch, PAN and national traffic members.
The station was in the headlines for the wrong reasons in March this year. Three officers allegedly did not follow their code of conduct when an assault victim called the station to follow up on her case. Instead of being assisted, she allegedly was threatened, laughed at and ignored by the officials.
Tsotsotso said, “We have put a rolling electronic board with the numbers of station management officials for all those community members that feel they were not given a good service, by an official at the front desk, or elsewhere.”
“We have also placed a suggestion box at the station foyer and assigned that every shift has an officer in charge to supervise the conduct of officials,” said Tsotsotso.
Mahloromela said he and Tsotsotso have been able to resolve the rising clashes between meter taxi drivers, Uber, and Taxify which were seen in the area by holding discussions with the relevant organisations.
The community has been warned to be cautious of fake adverts which mainly involve apartments or vehicles for sale or rent. The police have warned that many residents are becoming victims of fake ads because they tend to trust what they see on the Internet without being certain of its legitimacy. The station commander said some flats are advertised and people are told to make a deposit when the flat does not even exist.
“We would like to thank the Midrand Reporter for assisting us to find informers. At the moment we have recruited 72 informers but we still need more. Can residents please contact the station if they would like to be an informer,” concluded Tsotsotso.
All people with outstanding cases are urged to call the station and follow up.
Details: Midrand Police Station 011 347 1626.
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