More than 1 000 police vehicles out of service, 12 in Krugersdorp
A statement from the DA recently revealed that Gauteng has a serious shortage of police vehicles. One of the affected police stations is the Krugersdorp Police.
The DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety, Michael Shackleton recently said Gauteng was being left without much-needed resources to keep residents safe.
He said the delivery of police services had been affected because 1 169 of their vehicles were out of service.
This puts the safety of the residents at risk, leaving South African Police Service officers with fewer vehicles for visibility patrols, detective services and support services,” he said, adding that this was unacceptable as it resulted in police not being able to attend emergency crime scenes.
“This information was revealed by the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele in a written reply to the DA’s questions in the National Assembly.”
According to Cele Visible Policing has 569 out of service vehicles; the Detective Services has 491 out of service vehicles; and Support Services has 109 vehicles that are out of service.
One of the stations severely affected by the vehicle shortage is Krugersdorp, which has 22 operational vehicles and 12 vehicles that are out of service, according to Cele.
A police station unit cannot operate with only one vehicle; if that vehicle has mechanical challenges there will be no vehicle available.”
The statement said there was no specific timeframe for when these vehicles would be repaired and returned. The News recently published a story regarding the lack of vehicles available for the Forensic Services that caters to the entire West Rand.
“The DA will continue to put pressure on the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko to liaise urgently with her national counterpart Minister of Police, Bheki Cele to ensure that 1 169 out of service police vehicles are attended to immediately and brought back to their respective police stations to prevent and fight crime in the province.
“We demand that the current national government provide adequate resources to the police as our residents deserve a police service that is well resourced to keep them and their belongings safe.
We will also be conducting oversight inspections at several police stations across the province to assess whether they have adequate resources to fight and prevent crime.”
