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Free State’s police station among top 5 to deal with serious crime

───   TSHEHLA KOTELI 10:13 Mon, 20 Feb 2023

Free State’s police station among top 5 to deal with serious crime | News Article

The Free State's biggest police station, Park Road in Bloemfontein, is number 5 of the top 30 stations in South Africa where serious crime is reported.

Delivering the crime statistics for the third quarter, October to December 2022, Minister of Police Bheki Cele revealed that Park Road Police Station has had 2 306 serious crimes reported in the three months, which is an increase of 360 compared to the 1 946 crimes reported in the previous year’s quarter 3, October to December 2021. Park Road seems to be the only station in the province that has made it onto the list of crime statistics. 

The category of police stations where serious crime is reported is the only one in which the province appears, the rest of the categories include truck hijacking, robbery at non-residential premises, robbery at residential premises, carjacking, rape, murder, and contact crime.

ALSO READ: Police stations’ holding cells in the spotlight

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the province has mentioned that the only police station in the Free State that is included in the national crime statistics, has also been under construction by a series of contractors since 2017. 

The DA's spokesperson for Police in the Provincial Legislature, Leona Klyenhans, is of the view that services could hardly be rendered at the police station in question. 

Around July 2022, most of the 111 holding cells in the province’s police stations were operational but less than 20 were in good condition. Of the 88 holding cells that were operational, only 19 were believed to be in a good condition, whereas 8 were in a bad condition. In a reply to a DA-written parliamentary question by George Michalakis, Minister Bheki Cele revealed that there are 111 police stations in the province and 23 police stations’ holding cells were not operational. Only seven out of the 23 were built without holding cells, therefore 16 have been closed due to their bad conditions.

ALSO READ: Police vans gathering dust at repair shops

Among the 16 holding cells that were non-operational, only two were closed due to renovations, which include one of the busiest police stations in the province - Park Road – which has been closed for renovation since 2017. Another station’s holding cells that are being renovated are the ones at Odendaalsrus. It is unclear at this stage when the renovations at these two police stations will be completed. 

The issues of the state of police stations or the crime there are not the only issues previously faced by the police. Police vehicles have gathered dust at repair shops in the province. Cele had revealed that it could take more than a month to replace the battery of a police van in the province or more than four months just to inspect one, leaving hundreds of official police vehicles out of circulation.

ALSO READ: Hundreds of new police vehicles baking in the sun – PHOTOS

The information about police vehicles being out of sight came during the time where residents in the province were complaining about the shortage of police vehicles. Hundreds of brand new vehicles purchased for police stations across the province have been standing idle for up to a year, waiting to be dispersed.

During a visit by Cele to Botshabelo, residents were complaining about the shortage of police vehicles. The ministry then said, just days after, that about 177 vehicles procured during the previous financial year are still standing at the provincial warehouse for new vehicles. This information was revealed in an answer on a written question tabled in parliament by DA MP, George Michalakis. 

Some of the information indicated that vehicles were bought up to a year and three months ago. OFM News took footage and photos of hundreds of vehicles exposed to the elements, standing idle at the Bainsvlei Police Station in Bloemfontein.

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