Police monitoring station set up at Berea Park
Councillor Christopher Pappas is grateful to Metro Police for agreeing to have a mobile police monitoring station placed in Berea Park.
A MOBILE police monitoring station with CCTV cameras has been placed in Berea Park to deal with the issues of crime in the park.
According to ward 31 councillor Christopher Pappas, crime is high in the park which is situated between two malls, a university and school, and there have been ongoing problems including drug dealing in the park, pick pocketing and car theft in Stephen Dlamini Road. “I took complaints and sent these to Metro Police. They responded within the hour to ask if I could meet them in the park in 20 minutes. Metro agreed the park was a good location for a police monitoring station,” said Pappas.
He said the monitoring station was not a permanent fixture, but hoped it would help with the monitoring of crime in the park and surrounding areas as well as act as a deterrent to crime.
“It’s especially needed at this time of the year where students and learners are writing exams and have a lot more free time to be out and about in the area. It will probably be moved during the festive season to other areas where it is needed more, such as the beachfront,” he said.
Pappas said the station would operate seven days a week and the public could also report incidents of crime in the park and surrounding roads at the station.
The station has two cameras, one high camera which will monitor the roads, and a lower camera which monitors the park. There will be one camera operator on duty as well as one plainclothes Metro Police officer patrolling the park. There is also a loud hailer inside the station to enable the officers to alert park users by broadcasting through this. There are also two radios connected to SAPS and Metro Police for direct communication.
“We hope that besides being a deterrent to criminal activity and for crime prevention, we will be able to get an idea from footage of what crime is happening in the area, and all footage will be recorded. I thank Metro Police for being so responsive and for taking up the request, as I am sure it will make a difference in the area,” said Pappas.
