Serious crackdown on rural crime

Police officers from rural communities are set to be redeployed to their home towns as part of a plan to prioritise rural safety, according to Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer.

Lamoer, along with his deputy, Sharon Jephta, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and other police top brass met farmers from Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl in Stellenbosch on Tuesday to discuss crime on farms.

Farmers raised several problems, including a lack of police staff and vehicles, theft of irrigation equipment and that suspects were often granted bail. Lamoer and Mthethwa assured them that rural safety had been prioritised and steps were being taken in this regard.

Residents said police response times could be up to 45 minutes. They attributed this to a lack of manpower, and also the vast areas police had to cover in farming communities.

Lamoer said that as openings or shortages arose in the smaller towns, officers who hailed from there would be given the opportunity to serve their communities. He added that they were less likely to get into trouble in their home towns because they were well known there.

The response to this plan had been positive, he said.

Lamoer said an audit was being conducted at all of the province’s 149 police stations, with a focus on small towns.

Also on the agenda was the lack of vehicles, and police boundaries. Mthethwa said that during the World Cup the police acquired several vehicles, including 4x4s, and helicopters. He said the farming communities would be better served than city suburbs by these vehicles.

The department was also trying to undo the “boundary system” where officers told residents they did not have jurisdiction to act outside of their designated areas.

Mthethwa said it sounded as if a syndicate was behind the theft of irrigation equipment, and that police would have to work closely with residents, farmworkers and business owners to tackle the problem.

Source: Cape Argus

 

 

 

 

 

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