Promised police station ‘overdue’
WITH an average of two hijackings a day, crime activists in Reservoir Hills are calling on the government to make good on its promise of building a police station in the area.
During a meeting in 2014 with then-transport MEC Willies Mchunu, former KZN police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni and Sydenham police station commissioner Colonel Ruth de Villiers, the community was promised a fully fledged station.
But five years later, it still has a satellite station in Mount Batten Drive, where cases are opened and then transferred to Sydenham SAPS.
Chairperson of the Reservoir Hills community policing forum Pravin Gounder said: “Criminals are no longer operating with only handguns.
“They are using high-calibre weapons such as rifles. A station is needed now more than ever.”
With informal housing mushrooming, Gounder said police visibility had not increased accordingly.
He claimed to it took police from Sydenham SAPS about 15 minutes to attend to a call out, which made it difficult for the criminals to be caught.
Gounder added that promises had been made for a fully resourced police station with competent staff, vehicles and equipment.
“We want to know what happened.” He said boom gates with 24-hour security had been installed in various neighbourhoods, but more was needed. If a station was not in the offing, Gounder said the satellite station should be converted into a 24-hour station with active police personnel.
Community activist Nandhan Arran said: “The local security companies try their best to assist residents by dispatching response vehicles, but we need more help from the police.”
Vincent Chetty, from the Community Crime Prevention Association, said communities should become proactive on social networking platforms such as WhatsApp so they were aware of incidents.
Reservoir Hills Ratepayers Association chairperson Ish Prahladh said a meeting to address residents’ concerns would take place on April 24 at 6.30pm at the Reservoir Hills Seva Samaj hall.
Last week, four armed people hijacked a woman on Dunkeld Road while she was dropping off her child for a music class and on Kies Avenue, a 62-year-old resident was hijacked by four men outside his home.
The car was later found in Claremont. Hours later, another man, 45, was hijacked outside his premises in Whitaker Avenue and, on Saturday, one suspect was arrested for remote jamming.
Last month, Chief Petty Officer Wilson Govender, 51, was shot and hijacked in Kies Avenue.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said work studies undertaken by provincial management concluded that there are no sufficient grounds to have a 24-hour fully fledged police station or satellite operating in the area.