DA MP Mike Waters writes:
The Ekurhuleni District only has 6 041 police officers to serve more than 4,3 million residents.
This means that there is only one police officer for every 720 residents.
The average in Gauteng is one police officer for 546 residents.
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The South African Police Service (SAPS) is currently 64 000 police officers short of meeting the United Nations (UN) policing ratio of 1:220.
In South Africa, the police to citizen ratio is 1:380.
If SAPS were to ensure that residents in Ekurhuleni were policed according to international standards, an additional 13 504 police officers would be needed.
Looking at it another way, SAPS across Ekurhuleni is a staggering 70 per cent under resourced.
It is little wonder that violent crime is increasing across Ekurhuleni, response times are woeful and detectives have up to 100 cases to investigate at any given time.
As policing is a national competency, it is the responsibility of Police Minister Bheki Cele to ensure that the police service is adequately resourced.
The Minister is failing dismally in this regard.
