The Democratic Alliance is shocked and saddened at yet another senseless murder in Kempton Park.
Michael Waters, DA MP and deputy chief whip of the official opposition, said: “Having three murders in less than two months in the Norkem Park police precinct should have the alarm bells ringing at both the national and provincial police offices.
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“Norkem Park Police Station has historically been under-resourced and despite raising our concerns in Parliament, the Minister of Police has failed to act. In fact, it was only due to the petition the DA handed into Parliament in October 2015 with regard to the lack of visible policing in Birch Acres, that the police have eventually been called to Parliament to explain the situation at the station,” Waters said in a statement released on Monday.
“In the SAPS presentation, they admit that as far as visible policing is concerned, ‘the deployment of two to three vehicles per shift is the norm’. This is an indictment against the Minister and his Police Commissioner when there are four sectors within the Norkem Park police precinct, which should ideally have two vehicles for visible policing at any given time.
“Meaning there should be eight vehicles conducting visible policing at all times, not two or three,” Waters added.
“Visible policing will not eradicate crime but what it does do is act as a deterrent to would-be criminals as it also allows the police to notice suspicious individuals.
“At a meeting, I had at the Provincial Commissioner’s offices on June 19 I raised this very issue of the chronic lack of visible policing. The reasons given to me, which I stated that I did not accept, were that the National SAPS office only allocated Gauteng about 70 per cent of the police it needed and thus had a ripple effect down to police station allocations.
“Government has an obligation to ensure that all our police stations are resourced according to their needs and not cut police numbers at the expense of people’s lives.
“Given the three murders and the high number of other violent crimes in the precinct, such as stabbings and car hijackings, I am asking all residents to sign our petition which I intend to hand personally to the Minister of Police, the Gauteng MEC of Police, the National Commission, the Provincial Commissioner and Parliament.”
Residents of Birch Acres, Norkem Park, Birchleigh, Birchleigh North, Terenure, Edleen, Kempton Park West and Van Riebeeck Park can sign it online here.
