I would like to report a crime: Police station in KZN burgled

The last place you expect to hear of a burglary is at a police station. So imagine the surprise of officers who reported for duty this week to find three rooms at their station had been burgled.

The offices, located at the Verulam police station in KwaZulu-Natal were broken into on Wednesday evening and several valuables were stolen.

ALSO READ: Eastern Cape police station robbed of firearms

According to a private security company in the area, Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA), it appeared as though the doors to the offices were forced open.

Police have not commented on the break-in. Any update will be included once received.

A station of problems

According to RUSA, this is not the first incident of theft at the station.

In July last year, a branded Verulam SAPS vehicle was stolen from the station yard in daylight. It was later recovered on Court Lane in the Verulam CBD with its radio and spare tyre missing.

A hijacked Isuzu bakkie recovered by RUSA was also stolen from the same station a week later.

An ‘absolute atrocity’

Criminals have also been known to hold up police officers in stations after pretending to report a hijacking or accident.

ALSO READ: Police station robberies: Inside info allowing criminals to outsmart cops

In March last year, officers at the Somerset East Police Station in the Eastern Cape were robbed at gunpoint after three suspects pretended to be reporting an accident. The three fled with an undisclosed number of firearms, reported the South Coast Herald.

Action Society’s Ian Cameron told The Citizen in 2022 that police had lost over 26 000 firearms and millions of rounds of ammunition since 2007.

He labelled police station robberies an “absolute atrocity”.

“Police stations have become soft targets and have lots of firearms and ammunition. The police are being numbed by incompetent senior leadership and senior members who are part of Saps. If the leadership does not change, nothing will change on ground level.”