Bramley Sector Community Policing Forum (CPF) acknowledged the fourth-quarter crime statistics, released on May 22, while mapping out a new approach to tackle crimes.

Bramley Police Station dominated the Rosebank precinct, featuring in several crime categories.

In trio crimes, made up of carjacking, robbery at non-residential premises, and robbery at residential premises, the police station recorded an increase of 15 counts, from 42 to 57 incidents, for the carjacking category, the station recorded an increase of 13 counts, from 30 to 43 incidents, and in the kidnapping category, Bramley recorded an increase of 14 counts, from 17 to 31.

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Bramley Police Station’s station commander Colonel Lionel Chetty said: “We have taken note of the hijackings in the area and we will revisit our approach to either prevent the hijackings or apprehend the suspects. We will revisit the approach until we get it right.”

Bramley CPF executive chairperson, Gerard Oaker, explained that the community has noted the developments made, with static deployments in the mornings to all previously identified hotspots, to the extent that these are not hotspots anymore and hijackings have stopped.

“Many of the crime statistics have come from an area that falls under the station’s policing area, but are difficult to control. The area is called Stjwetla, which is located behind the Marlboro area towards the N3 highway which mostly falls under sector 1.

This is an informal settlement that makes policing difficult and is the biggest contributor to the hijacking crime stats for this station. It thus skews the performance of the station, with regards to the rest of the area which it polices.”

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Oaker added that most vehicles were recovered in Alexandra township, with the vehicle occupants being robbed of valuables and electronic devices.

He explained that one of the measures in place was the high impact operations, such as Shanela, being held on weekends in the areas which Bramley station covers, yielding many arrests where many unlicensed firearms, ammunition, stolen property, and vehicles have been recovered from suspected hijackers.

The chairperson said the report reflected a concern, not only for Sector 2, but all the sectors that the station polices.

“However, the types of crimes that are mainly experienced in Sector 2 are that of by-law infringements and illegal immigrants.

These crime trends that we have in this sector are being revisited with new strategies, approach, insight, and experience from the new station commander of the station.

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We are confident that the new station commander will make a huge difference in this sector and the overall jurisdiction of this station and the communities it protects.”

Oaker concluded that Sector 2’s CPF, under the Bramley station, has been pivotal in the engagement, communication, and support of the communities they serve.

“They provide a platform for the community to address issues of crime and intelligence where anonymity is key and vital.

They have, and continue to plan, various programmes to assist victims of gender-based violence, to increase awareness of crime trends in the area, and to invite more community engagement with the CPF and its functions as support to our SAPS.”

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