Vehicle fleet boost to restore confidence in crime-fighting

WESTERN Cape police have been urged to honour policies around the use of state vehicles following the boost of 58 new vehicles that will be distributed across the province.

Acting provincial police commissioner Thembekile Patekile officially handed over the vehicles yesterday to district cluster commanders during a ceremony in Belhar.

The areas included Garden Route, which will receive 28 vehicles, the Overberg with four, the West Coast with 15, Worcester with five, and Kraaifontein an additional two vehicles.

Patekile said this was the first batch and more vehicles were expected to be handed over in months to come.

“Police must bring back the confidence to communities by serving them in a responsible manner. The vehicles have a system whereby we can monitor their movement and speed. But we also urged our communities to report any misuse of them,” said Patekile.

The new vehicles also cater for specialised units including the flying squad and K9 unit.

“Today, we are also launching the Rural Flying Squad to deal with the challenges in the districts including the Central Karoo, West Coast and Garden Route.”

Acting provincial chairperson of the Community Police Forum Francina Lukas said the shortage of vehicles for police was a long-standing problem and the new vehicles would assist.

Community activist Billy Claasen said they hoped police would respect the codes of conduct and use the vehicles for crime-fighting.

“It is a big problem in the small town. When people report crime, they would be told there are no police cars,” said Claasen.