Solly’s plans for struggling Honeydew Police Station
Msimanga discussed some of the issues plaguing Honeydew Police Station and indicated how he would implement better services.
While a new police station in Cosmo City is on the cards, to assist the overtaxed Honeydew Police Station, an oversight inspection by the DA’s candidate premier, Solly Msimanga, saw him express a different opinion.
Honeydew is currently the second worst performing police station in the province and fourth nationally, according to the latest crime stats.
Msimanga, who was accompanied by various councillors on his inspection on Monday, 1 April, discussed some of the issues plaguing the station and how as a candidate premier he would implement better services.
“The biggest challenge that they are facing is that they cover a huge area, including Cosmo City, Honeydew, Zandspruit and parts of Roodepoort, which is a fast-growing area, both informally and formally. This tells you that there is a need for a very responsive police service, but you can only have that when you have the right amount of personnel and equipment. We picked up that there is a need for two other police stations and also a need for the current police station to be upgraded or moved into new premises as it occupies rented premises,” Msimanga explained.
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He added that upgrades to the station cannot be done without the consent of the landlord, which becomes an issue.
In an effort to curb crime, Msimanga said that there is a need for a specialised drug unit and more properly trained detectives. “They currently have about 341 personnel at Honeydew Police Station. Of these, only 17 are detectives. This means that, with the current caseload, each detective is handling over 114 cases. This, on its own, tells you that we have a problem we need to address.
“The more resources the station can acquire, in the form of personnel, vehicles, and the latest technology for prevention of crime, the better they will be able to perform,” he said.
He also saw the need for the Family Violence, Child Protection & Sexual Offences Unit to be centralised due to the number of cases of child and gender-based abuse that are being reported. This unit only exists in Krugersdorp, according to Msimanga.
“Honeydew officers now have to wait for members from Krugersdorp to come out and assist them,” he said.
Msimanga also commended the officers for their dedication and time spent at the station with very little absenteeism. However, he indicated that the officers would eventually experience burn-out, and stated that he felt this issue needed to be looked into.
The former Tshwane mayor also highlighted the issue of instability which is caused by the reshuffling of staff. For about two months, the Honeydew station commander, Brigadier Anesh Maharaj, has been in and out of the station, a move that is seen to cause confusion among the general staff.
“There is a need for stability at the top management level of any police station; however, we do understand the rationale behind moving people around at an operational level – we do not want to create a sense of familiarity, especially when we are dealing with issues such as drugs and crime syndicates. However, we need to have proper systems and balances in place, to create downward stability throughout the value chain. Continuous chopping and changing and upper management level only serves to create confusion, even at the bottom,” he explained.
