Residents sceptical about new police station

Talks of a new police station took place at a Sandton Community Policing Forum meeting which was held at the Country Club Johannesburg in Woodmead.

The deputy director for organisation and work study at the Provincial South African Police Services office in Gauteng, Colonel Mahomed Rishaad Habib, said an investigation of Sector 5 had been finalised and it was decided that the area needs a stronger police presence. “The police station is still just a study. It will take a few months to finalise and get an approval,” he explained. Habib explained to residents how the establishment of the proposed police station would work.

Residents in attendance were most concerned by how the new police station would impact the other police stations and their effectiveness in the community. Habib said, “We are going to use resources from existing police stations to formulate Wynberg Police Station. The South African Police Services operates on a set budget. The level of crime in an area determines the manpower to be allocated to that specific police station. So police officers from the existing police stations in the area will be allocated accordingly.”

Brigadier Alan Billings of the Sandton police added, “The South African Police Services already spends 74 percent of its budget on salaries and the rest goes to operations. It is a tight budget.”

Habib said the proposed Wynberg Police Station would ideally focus on fighting crime in the Alexandra area. The Sandton Community Policing Forum chairperson, Wendy Robertson added that the Wynberg Police Station would be stationed in Alexandra.

Habib said the building would need renovations. “But this will obviously have to be approved by management,” he added. “If the station were to be operational then it will support all operations that take place at a police station.”

Captain Kym Cloete, spokesperson for the Sandton police gave insight on how the proposed police station would directly impact them. She said, “A percentage of the area we are responsible for policing would no longer be our responsibility. The Sandton police would be releasing Buccleuch and Kelvin, but unfortunately we would also be given some of Bramley’s areas, namely Innesfree Park and the rest of Sandown.” The other police stations that will be impacted by the proposed new station will be Alexandra and Bramley police stations.

Watch our video:

Tell us on Facebook:

Are you for or against a new Wynberg Police Station?