Opening a case at the Elsies River Police Station “is like a roller coaster”, says the chair of Ruyterwacht Safety Watch.
According to Daniel Dekker (chair) as per a meeting held on Tuesday 6 December 2022, there are only two police vehicles available for Elsies River and Ruyterwacht.
“Can you believe it? Two vehicles and the other three do crime prevention?” Dekker asked.
“We in Ruyterwacht do not have a sector-two manager from Elsies River police, instead, the sector-one, -three and -four managers must now jointly work together to close the gap for sector two.”
Dekker said: “If you want to open a case at Elsies River Police Station it seems like a roller coaster whereby the constables who take your statements make the court’s decision. They tell you upfront that it is not necessary to open a case or that you cannot open a case because the suspect is not known to you.”
Lack of telephone etiquette
“The lack of telephone etiquette is horrible, when you call the station, after one minute and 30 seconds they will answer, or they will answer and put the phone down,” Dekker said.
He told TygerBurger that when one asks for assistance, you always get the same answer, “we don’t have a vehicle available”.
He added that if you drive in the morning hours between 01:00 and 03:00 you will see those police vehicles standing in the dark at Moag’s Auto Spares on Halt Road, Elsies River, sleeping.
Capt Frederick van Wyk, provincial police spokesperson, said this information is far from the truth. He said that Elsies River police have at least six vehicles available to attend to policing within the precinct, three for normal complaints and three for performing crime prevention and combatting patrols in the hotspots as per our crime threat and crime pattern analyses which is done daily.
“These deployments are subject to vacation, study leave, sick leave, and officers being sent on refresher and advanced training courses to equip them to serve the community more efficiently.”
Sector two manager transferred
The sector manager at stake was temporarily transferred due to unforeseen circumstances, Van Wyk said. This has been done without jeopardising normal policing. As such, the other sector managers have been mandated to temporarily fulfil the tasks and responsibilities required to police this sector.
Imraahn Mukaddam, public relations officer of Elsies River Community Policing Forum (CPF), said the issue regarding the sector-two manager becomes tricky, because the manager was threatened, so she was transferred to another sector. It was the first time Elsies River had a female sector manager, but troublemakers threatened the city commander. “The police do not take this lightly. Hence the temporary arrangement is in place until the matter is resolved.”
Mukaddam added that issues such as telephone etiquette were concerns raised by the community so that they can be improved. The CPF and police are addressing the matters to show their commitment to the Ruyterwacht community concerning service delivery.
“These matters are getting a lot of attention,” Mukaddam said.
