WHITE RIVER – A video showing the local police station with not a single officer in sight, recently sparked an uproar when it was uploaded onto social media.

On Wednesday Mr Chris Jacobs fell victim to a house robbery in which his laptop was stolen. He reported the case, and by Saturday he apparently still had not received a case number. When he visited the station to follow up at around 12:00 on Saturday, he looked around for someone to assist, but it was as quiet as the grave. He started looking around and found four officers outside the building. According to Jacobs, he politely asked one of them if he could be of assistance.

“Ons f*kken eet nou,” the officer replied.

Thereafter Jacobs returned to the charge office and waited for another 10 minutes.

He then decided to take a video, as he strongly believed that no would believe what he was witnessing. He left without any assistance.
“Commissioner of Oaths stamps were lying on the counters for anyone to help themselves to,” Jacobs told this publication. “I never planned to upload it onto social media, but people need to see this,” he said.

By Tuesday the video had been viewed over 50 000 times and shared nationwide. Jacobs wrote, “Urgent notice to all residents residing in and around White River: Please do not get murdered, assaulted, raped or robbed around 12:00 on a Saturday”.

Shortly after the video was uploaded, he received a call from the station commander who arranged a meeting with him, and apologised for the inconvenience.

Provincial police spokesman Sgt Gerald Sedibe assured that the issue was seen in a very serious light. “An internal investigation will determine the fate of the officers who were on duty that day,” he said.