Durbanville councillor urges police ministry to enhance local safety with more officers

Ward 21 councillor Hendri Terblanche has called on the police ministry to deploy more police officers and operational resources to the Durbanville Police Station.

He said the officer to population ratio stood at 1 police officer for every 858 residents in 2023. 

“This is significantly higher than the national average of 1:427 and nearly four times that of the United Nations recommended standard of 1 officer for every 220 people,” he said.

He added that a total of 5 433 criminal cases were reported in 2023 alone. 

“The residents of Durbanville have repeatedly raised their concerns about the delayed police response times to reported crimes and the insufficient police visibility in the face of growing safety risks,” he added.

Several attempts to get confirmation and comment from the local and provincial police were not successful.

Theft out of or from motor vehicles was a major crime reported in that police station, according to the crime stats that police released on Friday May 23. The cases increased from 127 cases last year to 142 cases this year, from the beginning of January until the end of March.

Councillor Terblanche also proposed the upgrade of the Durbanville Police Station to Brigadier status to reflect its operational demands and for the devolution of policing powers to capable provincial governments.

The Durbanville Community Police Forum (CPF) agreed with the concerns raised and supported the proposed interventions.