Three months after exposing critical under-resourcing at Lwandle Police Station, member of Provincial Parliament Benedicta van Minnen has turned her attention to Gordon’s Bay, where detectives operate from a house instead of a proper station.

Van Minnen, the DA’s Western Cape spokesperson for Police Oversight and Community Safety, and Ward 100 councillor Sean Stacey, visited the coastal police station on Monday 17 August following a promise she had made to Stacey.

“The need to have oversight at the police station is to ensure it gives the best possible service to the community of Gordon’s Bay,” she related.

Gordon’s Bay has the smallest precinct population in the Helderberg at 23 407 people according to the 2022 census, but Ward 100, which the station primarily serves, grew from 37 984 residents in 2011 to 47 879 in 2022, a 26% increase (“Police under pressure,” DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette, 8 July).

Van Minnen said Gordon’s Bay police identified property crime and gender-based violence as the leading crime concerns, while during the summer season the uptick in theft out of motor vehicles, particularly at Dappat se Gat, is also a pressing issue.

At Lwandle, which Van Minnen visited in June, she found 17 detectives carrying 141 cases each and an officer-to-resident ratio of one to 926 (“Lwandle’s policing shortfalls exposed,” 10 June).

At Gordon’s Bay, Van Minnen was met by a different set of challenges.

“They clearly have a maintenance problem, with some of their buildings being heritage buildings. There is no space for the detectives who are housed in a house in Dennehof Road,” Van Minnen said.

She said space is a concern and that the ideal solution would be for the vacant old post office site next to the station to be used, adding that this would possibly address the homeless issue that has arisen at the side.

The old post office building belongs to Telkom. Van Minnen believes the building must be better used and has undertaken to rectify the situation.

“I have met with Telkom management in the past, to no avail,” Stacey said. “We are hoping to try to drive this issue through the national minister of communications.”

Van Minnen also found that the holding cells at the station are used to accommodate those arrested in the Lwandle precinct as this station’s cells are under-capacitated. However, this shift has led to the Gordon’s Bay cells being overcrowded.

She also pointed out that the case load at Gordon’s Bay was just over 100 per detective. “That is too high in terms of national standards, but better than most stations,” Van Minnen explained.

However, for her the biggest issue at Gordon’s Bay was that the public expected police to take a more active role in bylaw enforcement.

“This is the job of the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police, Law Enforcement and Traffic Services,” Van Minnen pointed out, adding that while there were five Metro Police officers allocated to Ward 100.

However, there are many demands on the officers’ services in other parts of the ward, which includes parts of Strand, so they cannot spend all their time in the beach area.

On a positive note, Van Minnen was satisfied with other aspects of the Gordon’s Bay station, believing the ratio of officers to residents is “relatively okay”, while station commander Captain Adré Delport reported the station’s vehicle capacity is adequate.

Once her visit was over Van Minnen concluded: “Lwandle is in a critical situation and needs a new station. Gordon’s Bay is old and has heritage limitations, but is not in a critical state.”