ONE Kempton SAPS detective can handle up to 73 different cases at any given time.
Furthermore, four detectives have to share one vehicle when ideally the detective/vehicle ratio should be two to one.
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These are some of the findings made during a DA oversight visit to the police station on Friday, last week (September 11), where Lethabong constituency head Mike Waters, MPL Graham Gersbach, Kempton Park ward councillors Tracey Butler, Pieter Henning and Jaco Terblanche all sat down with station commander Brig Bertha Kgoroba.
This large case load and the lack of resources provided to the unit is, according to Waters, affecting the detectives’ ability to investigate cases effectively.
The station has a total of 268 police officers allocated to it.
Forty-two officers are stationed at the Customer Care Centre and 32 officers are allocated to each of the four sectors in the Kempton Park precinct.
The detective unit has 72 officers, while the remaining policemen and women are allocated to the crime prevention and crime intelligence units or are support staff.
As far as police vehicles are concerned, the following units have access to the following number of vehicles:
• Visible policing unit: 27 vehicles;
• Detectives unit: 28 vehicles;
• Support services: four vehicles;
• Crime intelligence unit: one vehicle
Currently, 14 of the vehicles have clocked up mileage of over 150 000 km and eight vehicles are in the workshop for repairs.
“I will therefore be submitting parliamentary questions on the number of detectives and vehicles allocated to the Kempton Park station,” Waters confirmed.
According to the station commander, the most common crimes committed across the precinct are burglaries of homes as well as theft of and out of motor vehicles.
“We asked Brig Kgoroba what the police were doing to try and tackle the drug problem in Kempton Park, as drug dealers openly sell drugs and this problem is fuelling house and car burglaries in the area,” Waters said.
According to the DA, police said they regularly conduct raids at known drug dens but seldom find drugs due to the dealers hiding their stash.
Furthermore, the station had a shortage of sniffer dogs, therefore the animals weren’t always available for raids.
On a lighter note, the DA said it was pleased that all police officers had their own bulletproof vests and officers who conduct patrols have handheld radios. The vehicles also all had functioning radios.
“I will be raising some of the problems I found at the station in parliament to ensure the officers working at the Kempton Park police station get the support and resources they need to bring down crime in the area. The DA will also be meeting with Brig Kgoroba on a monthly basis in order to strengthen the relationship between the community and the police, and to identify areas where we can provide support to officers working in the precinct,” Waters concluded.
