Cape Town - The removal of a mobile police station from the Dunoon taxi rank to the clinic on Monday last week has led to renewed calls for a permanent police station to be built for the swelling population.
The Dunoon residents had started a petition for the return of their mobile police station while calling for the provision of a permanent one.
The community said the Table View and Milnerton police stations were far from their area and that with the rampant crime in their community, most people were not able to report incidents of crime.
The petition author, Thembelani Ndabezimbi, said earlier this year the community was surprised yet happy to realise that they had been given a mobile police station within walking distance, after numerous requests for a permanent police station.
“Crime in Dunoon is high but statistics won’t show you that because most of it is not reported because police stations are far from the community,” he said.
“It was very sad when we realised that the mobile police station that was close to the community had now been moved to a different location which is far from the community.
“Dunoon taxi rank was a perfect spot for the police station because it is visible to everyone and people can easily access it. This had an impact in dropping the crime rate in Dunoon.”
Community leader and SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) chairperson Sinethemba Matomela said Dunoon has grown from 27 areas before the pandemic to 52 due to land invasions. He said there was now a desperate need for a permanent police station in the area.
“The mobile community service (centre) does not offer all the services.
“Because of the travelling costs (to get) to the other police stations, they instead report these crime incidents to the community leaders as they sometimes seek an immediate resolution and do not report to the police station.
“While we can deal with other issues, these need to be reported so that they are captured by the police which would, in turn, inform the dire need for our police station,” he said.
Police spokesperson André Traut said the mobile community service centre was not removed from Du Noon. He said as a safety precaution the unit was relocated to the clinic due to the threat of protests last week but was returned on Monday.