Byline: Kelebogile Masemola
10 March 2022
On Thursday 10 March 2022 Gauteng Community Safety Head of Department (HoD), Ms Nontsikelelo Sisulu, handed over the mobile police station to the South African Police Service (SAPS) at Falala Community Hall in Soshanguve, Tshwane.
The mobile police station was taken to block F (Falala shopping centre) to inform the community on how it will be working around the area.
The handover of the mobile police station to the SAPS is aimed at providing services in high-density areas where there are no police stations and is in line with the commitment made by Premier David Makhura during the State of Province Address, to direct additional resources to the law enforcement agencies in the fight against criminal activities in the province.
According to the HoD of community safety, they have been monitoring police stations for 5 years to be exact through the crime statistics that are released by the SAPS as well as the monitoring work the Department of Safety does through the provincial secretariat program.
“There are forty police stations at SAPS as identified to be on red alert according to the released statistics last month, 15 were identified by us as the department to have high level of crime, mostly house robberies, business robberies, car hijackings, rape, murder, as well as various forms of assault, mostly assault and assault with grievous bodily harm,” Ms Sisulu said
The purpose of the truck in the Soshanguve policing area is to enable the community to access the services offered by the SAPS easily.
SAPS Soshanguve Station Commander Brigadier Toohey, Community Policing Forum (CPF), and the Community of Soshanguve welcomed the truck with warm hands.
“As a collective, we are going to utilize the mobile truck as much as possible.
“We have our challenges but with the help of the CPF and with the help of community safety, we are going to take those services down to the community and that is what is so exciting for us as Soshanguve SAPS.
I understand that there are a lot of complaints going around and this is one of the resources we can utilize to minimize those complaints,” Brigadier Toohey said.
She furthermore thanked the HOD for providing Soshanguve SAPS with the mobile police station as crime is a very big problem in Soshanguve.
“I’m very grateful HoD that this could be given to Soshanguve SAPS, I think we need it with the crime that is taking place in our area; it’s too much so we need to prevent a little bit of that crime, report those cases, CSC will go from area to area with the help of our councilors,” she said.
The mobile truck will be placed in hotspots or rather problematic areas within the policing area to assist in eliminating crime.
Ms Sisulu engaged the community of Soshanguve on service delivery challenges in the area
SAPS response to crime, drugs, bullying at schools, and rape was what was brought forward by members of the community.
The community members expressed how they’ve lost faith in the SAPS in Soshanguve because of their lack of response to their cries.
“You say the police are here to help the community but when we call for help the police are not there.
“We have issues of crime, rape, drugs, bullying that needs police intervention but when we go to the police station you send us from pillar to post and give us bad attitude and we end up getting no help whatsoever,” a community member said.
