Cape Town - Nine Parow police officers are behind bars for allegedly selling confiscated drugs, stealing evidence and accepting bribes – and it is believed this will expose widespread corruption within the provincial police.
On Friday, hours after the nine members and a former colleague were arrested, Lynette Norman, a Parow resident of nearly 30 years who works closely with police in the area, and Community Safety MEC Dan Plato told Weekend Argus the problem was much broader.
“I think this is only the tip of the iceberg.
“I don’t think Parow is the only police station… This investigation is going to open a whole can of worms,” Norman said.
But while provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer acknowledged there was “a rotten element” within the police, he cautioned against making general statements about corrupt officers based merely on allegations.
Suspected criminal dealings within the Parow police station surfaced on Friday after members of the police provincial anti-corruption unit, which became operational about two months ago, arrested a sergeant and eight constables stationed there.
A former employee was also taken into custody.
Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said they would be charged with corruption “following information that they took bribes from suspects, and stole exhibits”.
The 10 are expected to appear in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Contingency plans were put in place at the Parow police station so that service there would not be disrupted because of the arrests.
Yesterday a source there said officers at the station were experiencing mixed emotions over the arrests.
Norman, a founder of the Panorama, Welgelegen and Plattekloof neighbourhood watch who has lived in Parow for 27 years, said: “I am shocked, but not surprised…
“The level of service (at the Parow police station) has deteriorated over the last five years.”
She said problems at the station included high levels of absenteeism, officers sometimes turning a blind eye to drug-related crimes, and suspects being arrested but then suddenly released.
Norman also had questions about a situation involving a senior officer who was moved from the station in an apparently hushed manner.
Yesterday Plato told Weekend Argus the officers’ arrests may have lifted the lid on rampant corruption within the police.
“I think the problem could be much wider,” he said.
During policing needs and priorities meetings he held in various areas, residents repeatedly complained about corrupt police officers.
“They say about 80 percent of police in Steenberg and Grassy Park are corrupt,” Plato said.
When it came to the Parow police station, he had been aware of complaints about officers based there.
He said those arrested faced various allegations, including “taking brown envelopes and reselling drugs”.
Yesterday Lamoer did not want to divulge details about the probe into the officers.
“I’m sure more things will come forward as the investigation continues.”
Lamoer added that when making broad comments on police corruption, care needed to be taken because it was easy to make allegations, but these needed to be proven.
He said it was not clear how many police officers were involved in crime, and urged people to come forward if they were aware of corrupt officers so that they could be investigated.
The national police on Friday posted news of the Parow arrests on its official Facebook page, and hundreds of people responded.
Some identified other police stations in the province that they believed should be investigated for corrupt officers.
The Parow police station has found itself at the centre of controversy before. This week’s arrests follow a similar case dating back a few years.
In October 2008, Siphiwo Mzamo, then a police inspector stationed in Parow, was charged for unlawfully releasing suspects who had stolen goods, bribing a colleague with R1 000 to keep quiet about this, and taking $16 000 from a suspect on the pretext it would be kept at the police station.
But, according to court papers in the case, he had planned to keep the money.
Mzamo pleaded guilty to six charges and was imprisoned for an effective five years.
The Parow police station also previously cropped up in an event involving bribe allegations.
A year ago it was reported that cameras installed outside the station had been donated by Saliem Dawjee, a Goodwood businessman named in news articles as having offered bribes to Lamoer.
In 2012 Dawjee, whose business premises were searched by police late last year, apparently gave a top police officer stationed in Parow an award for excellent service.
Weekend Argus understands in one case, two police officers from the Parow station last year went to a drug dealer’s home and asked for R1 000. In exchange, they would not confiscate his drugs.
As recently as September, fed-up residents allegedly called in anti-drug group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) to support them in their protest against drug dealers and gangsters in the area.
Residents alleged that not enough was being done to curb escalating crime in the area, which had once been a peaceful neighbourhood but was now a haven for drug lords and prostitutes.
The most recent reports said Parow police station recorded the highest increase in business burglaries over two years.
It also had the second highest increase in car thefts in the province.
Weekend Argus