WATCH: East Rand metro police allegedly burn items of job seekers
One of the resident's main worry was, the police didn’t have the fire department at hand should the fire had raged out of control.
Metro police officers were recently caught on camera burning what looks like job seekers’ advertising material on the corner of Rienert Avenue and the P91 (R25) in Edleen, Kempton Express reports.
Van Riebeeck Park resident Jessica Kruger raised her concerns about the fire that was allegedly started by the metro police.
“It looks like they were enforcing by-laws by removing the job seekers, but I don’t think to start an uncontrolled fire is part of enforcing by-laws,” said Kruger.
“I understand they have to do their job but I feel they could have handled it better. What would have happened had the fire spiralled out of control? They could have opted to rather confiscate the items instead of burning them.”
When the media asked of the incident and whether they had sought permission to burn the items, police had this to say: “We were not aware of the allegations levelled against us and we are still busy conducting thorough investigations,” said Kobeli Mokheseng, spokesperson for the metro police.
Some of Kruger’s concerns were:
• Creating danger for persons passing by and for the nearby property if the fire flared out of control.
• They didn’t have the fire department at hand should the fire had raged out of control.
• They didn’t have an ambulance or paramedics on the scene in case the fire caused harm to anyone as a result of smoke inhalation or getting burnt.
• They were not protecting themselves by wearing any protective gear or equipment.
“This was reckless behaviour by the metro police and posed a danger to society,” said Kruger.
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