Amidst recent attacks on Durbanville residents and complaints of slow response by Durbanville police, more than 3 740 people have already signed a petition by local Ward 21 councillor Hendri Terblanche to have more police boots on the ground.
A highly pregnant mother, her husband and their two-year-old toddler were threatened with a firearm a week ago.
After the robber was detained by residents of their complex, they had to wait an hour and a half for the police to turn up at the crime scene to arrest the robber. The police said their slow response was that they did not have a vehicle available to go out to the crime scene.
The robbery took place and the robber was detained only 400 metres from the police station.
Statistics
Shocking statistics were shared by Terblanche in his petition, which he plans to hand over to parliament as soon as possible.
According to Terblanche there is currently only one police officer to 977 residents in Durbanville – sick and annual leave left out of the calculation.
“Safety is a constitutional right, not a privilege!” Terblanche says in his petition.
“Despite the rising population growth and the increase in demand, the Durbanville police station remains under-resourced due to the failure of the ANC to allocate police capacity where it is needed. The centralised control of the police services continues to undermine effective local policing.
“However the residents feel unsafe due to the unequal deployment of police resources to Durbanville police station,” he says.
According to Terblanche recent information obtained from the Durbanville police station reveals that the approved staff allocation was reduced by 11 officers in 2022 and a further nine officers in 2024. “Consequently, the officer to population ratio now stands at 1 police officer for every 977 residents. This is significantly higher than the national standard of 1:427.”
Upgrade needed
Durbanville Community Police Forum (DCPF) is supporting the petition “as long it is not a party political action”, says Louie Storm, chair of the DCPF.
“Our police station must definitely be upgraded to brigadier status if one considers the massive development that has been approved by the City of Cape Town and on other goverment levels. ”
Visit https://petitions.da.org.za/p/police-reinforcements-durbanville to sign the petition.
