According to Ladysmith police, you had just better get used to police parking at shopping malls. Even out-of-town police vehicles, because it’s “ALL OKAY”, says police spokesperson Captain Charmaine Struwig.

Oh, make no mistake, if you want to complain, you can – but chances are they are all in town on official business.

Yes, you heard right! Can we have an “Amen”!

But, here it is from the police themselves, their official response:

With reference to the article on page 2 of the Ladysmith Gazette dated 27 November 2015, the South African Police Service was not afforded the opportunity to allay the concerns raised by the community. We only became aware of their concerns and the existence of the video clip after we read about it in the Ladysmith Gazette on Thursday, 26 November 2015. A copy of the video clip was only sent to us after we approached the Ladysmith Gazette and enquired about the article and its contents.

We take this opportunity to clarify to the community the reason for the increase of police vehicles from other towns. The Policing clusters have recently been aligned with Municipal boundaries and the Uthukela Cluster Office is based in Ladysmith. This office is responsible for 16 police stations. The police stations are Ladysmith, Estcourt, Bergville, Colenso, Amangwe, Ntabamhlophe, Ematsheni, Upper Tugela, Weenen, Wembezi, Winterton, Besters, Ekuvukeni, Elandslaagte, Ezakheni, and Van Reenen. In future, it will not be unusual for vehicles from these areas to be seen in Ladysmith and vice-versa. These police stations and others in neighbouring clusters share the services of Correctional Facilities, other Government Departments and SAPS training facilities. It will therefore not be unusual for you to see our vehicles in neighbouring clusters as well.

Whenever a member of the public has a concern about a particular police vehicle, they should not hesitate to make direct contact with the Station Commander concerned. All Station Commanders will assist you to clarify whether the police vehicle is busy with legitimate police work or not . If misuse or abuse is detected, it will be investigated in terms of the SAPS Discipline Regulations.

The video clip has been viewed, but many questions pertaining to the incident remain unanswered. A sincere appeal is made to the author of the video clip to make contact with the Uthukela Cluster Commander, Brigadier Reynders, at 036-638-2583 or Captain Struwig at 036-638-3335. To enable us to lodge a disciplinary investigation into the incident, we would require a statement from the author of the video clip and access to the original footage.

Okay, let’s get this straight!

It is okay for police officers from Estcourt, Bergville, Colenso, Amangwe, Ntabamhlophe, Ematsheni, Upper Tugela, Weenen, Wembezi, Winterton, Besters, Ekuvukeni, Elandslaagte, Ezakheni and Van Reenen to do their shopping using state vehicles parked at shopping malls.

Yes, girlfriend, it’s all like copasetic and stuff – cops shopping is just like, no biggy!

See gallery below:

So, please, we have one final appeal to you, all our readers. Please send us all the photos you have of police vehicles parked at shopping malls and outside bars and taverns. Maybe if we had enough of them, somebody might feel like it was a problem. Email them to us at ladysmith.gazette@caxton.co.za