Valuable service, but no wheels?

The News received reports last week about the Criminal Records Centre (LCRC) in Krugersdorp not having any vehicles available to do their work.

The News spoke to two people who asked to remain anonymous and both confirmed that the forensic services have no vehicles available to go to crime scenes to collect evidence.

The problem seems to stem from a lack of maintenance on the vehicles. Those that had mechanical issues allegedly were impounded, and those that were involved in accidents are unusable.

The reports also suggest that even if a vehicle is fixed, other problems like worn-out tyres pose a risk to those driving it.

What does this mean for the residents of the West Rand? The informants explained that when the forensic employees are called to a crime scene, they have to be picked up by detectives or members from other police stations on the West Rand.

Because the LCRC Krugersdorp covers the whole of the West Rand it then takes time to be picked up, taken to the scene, get the job done and be brought back. Consequently much time is wasted before one crime scene is processed.

Another issue that was mentioned is that at the moment no evidence is collected at housebreaking scenes because of the lack of transport.

The informant explained to the News that victims always say ‘no one has come to take fingerprints yet’ when their homes had been broken into, but LCRC Krugersdorp does not have the resources to do their job. This means that valuable evidence is lost.

Some of the employees are even reported to be using their personal vehicles just so that the job can be done.

The News approached National Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo for comment who acknowledged receipt of our query by email and promised that it would be attended to as soon as possible. Unfortunately no response had been received by deadline.