Nearly 400 people have signed Ward 70 councillor Caleb Finn’s petition calling for urgent intervention at the Florida Police Station.

In the petition, Finn demands immediate action by Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi to ensure that the Florida station is properly manned and equipped to effectively and proactively respond to crime.

The Roodepoort Record has been inundated this year with complaints about the police station’s alleged inability to react timeously to crime incidents, including a house robbery in Discovery, where police allegedly never responded.

Other complaints included claims that police often take hours to respond because vehicles are not available. Officers are also said to avoid mental health-related calls, as the process of getting help for people in crisis is long and leaves vehicles tied up for hours.

The Record’s enquiries concerning vehicle and manpower deployment at Florida Police Station to Lieutenant Colonel Mpho Tshetlane, communications co-ordinator for the Johannesburg District, were met with a refusal to engage on the subject, with Tshetlane asserting that deployment information may expose officers to risk.

Finn says in the petition that residents have become vulnerable and traumatised by crime.

“I’ve closed the petition with just under 400 signatures,” he says.

“It will now be handed in, and I am hoping that the serious concerns raised get the attention they deserve.

“We have serious crime trends unfolding in Florida. From drugs to illegal mining and much more. Some are relatively new, and some have been going on for years.

“Our police officers need to have the means at their disposal to effectively protect us.”