Areas cut off from police
IF YOU have an emergency in the Westville, Hillcrest and Pinetown areas and call police stations there for help, the chances are officers won’t be in a position to call you back if you’re calling from a cellular phone.
The Westville Community Policing Forum raised the alarm last week when it established that some stations could not call cellphone numbers due to a contractual issue.
Westville CPF chairperson Alex Gloster said the matter was of “great concern”.
“It has been brought to the attention of the Westville CPF that the KZN SAPS stations that have been based on a specific IP phone system can currently not dial out from a station landline to a cellular phone.
“A large proportion of the community is dependent on mobile communication. Such an essential department at affected stations may not be able to reconnect to those in need if calls are cut or additional information is required for responding units.”
He urged CPFS and agencies to determine the situation at their respective stations and to advise their communities and support agencies on their findings.
Gloster said he would put pressure on the SAPS to have the issue resolved immediately. He said station managers should deal with the problem as soon as possible.
“Let’s bring all support that we can muster to assist our SAPS stations and personnel until this matter at affected stations can be resolved,” he said.
Responding, police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said the situation at some stations was the result of the contact for routers with the lowest cost being terminated.
“This resulted in the need for police stations to contact Telkom to reconfigure their systems. While most stations have done this already, we are aware that many stations are still reporting problems making outgoing cellphone calls from their landlines,” said Naicker.
He said a letter had been forwarded to all stations directing them to contact the SAPS technology management services personnel.
“They will assist those that have not already contacted Telkom,” he said.