Wheels come off in EMPD’s fight against crime

Several EMPD precincts in the city do not have sufficient vehicles and this undermined the response times of police officers and weakened their efforts to combat and fight crime effectively.

Officers who spoke to the Boksburg Advertiser on condition of anonymity said many of them in the various precincts were hampered in their work by a lack of resources, including vehicles.

Apparently, their vehicles were gathering dust in garages across the city, some for years, because of a lack of funds or delayed payments to service providers.

This situation has reportedly created a backlog in the repairs of EMPD vehicles, which saw many of them grounded.

These circumstances left many officers without response vehicles when crime is on the rise, especially with the ongoing vandalism of infrastructure across the city.

“The long repair times result in fewer vehicles available at the precincts, with stations such as Boksburg having one marked patrol vehicle to service the whole precinct.

“We are expected to attend to all the complaints we receive, yet we don’t have vehicles to use. We can’t walk to the scenes,” said a frustrated officer.

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“Lately, there has been a lot of bashing about not being visible enough and not always available to control traffic.

I think we have enough personnel for strategic deployment to the traffic hotspots, but no vehicles are available. We need vehicles to travel to these different spots.”

In Boksburg, the situation resulted in the EMPD officers travelling together in an unmarked kombi to carry out their roles as traffic officers instead of fighting crime.

This problem has been around for a long time, and the public has complained several times about the lack of EMPD visibility and delayed responses when they report crimes.

In 2021, our sister publication Boksburg Advertiser reported that the Boksburg precinct, in particular, faced a tremendous vehicle shortage, while their grounded vehicles were either unroadworthy or in garages awaiting attention or payments for the contractors.

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) also weighed in on the shortage of police resources.
ACDP councillor Tambo Mokoena said the shortage had hampered efforts to fight crime and called on the metro to address the problems.

“The EMPD is a vital organ of the city, which helps fight crime and corruption and brings stability, but it is under-resourced.

“First, there is a shortage of human resources and the EMPD personnel that we have need better working conditions. They need overtime when working after hours and must receive counselling after dealing with traumatic cases.

“Second, the EMPD officers need bullet-proof vests.

“Third, there is a shortage of vehicles, and many of those meant to be in service are not even roadworthy. Some have engines that overheat, others have only one working headlight,” said Mokoena.

“These three points make it extremely difficult for EMPD personnel to carry out their duties with care and determination. If they must maintain law and order in the city, they need to be taken care of.”

EMPD RESPONDS

The shortage of vehicles in the EMPD has become so serious that some officers are said to have resorted to using their hard-earned money to keep their work vehicles on the road.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officers said delays in fixing EMPD vehicles at the different garages have led to a serious shortage of vehicles.

Some officers have, due to the anticipated delays, become reluctant when they needed to send their vehicles in for service, particularly for minor issues.

“This has become a serious concern. Sometimes we have to come up with a plan to avoid the delays. Others end up paying from their own pocket to fix minor issues like changing light bulbs, brakes and other issues of wear and tear.

“Although it’s against council policy, people still do it because if you follow the normal route you will end up stranded without a car for a long period of time. We are now having too many officers travelling in one car.”

The EMPD spokesperson, Kelebogile Thepa, asked that the department be allowed some time to deliberate on the matter at great length, before responding to our list of questions.

Thepa stated that the same questions posed by the Boksburg Advertiser were also asked by councillors.

“Can we allow for the internal processes to be completed before we make the details public?” she asked.

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