Dear Editor
The high number of murders in Delft is cause for concern. The Delft police station has one of the worst police to population ratios in the metropolitan area. I will now take the matter up on a provincial and national platform.
Gang violence has reportedly claimed 31 lives in Delft during the month of August. There are severe shortages at police stations and officers on the ground are over-worked and overwhelmed by the violent crime that they must combat.
The national police to population ratio is 1:358 (in 2014/15) however, a reply to my recent parliamentary question shows that Delft has a police to population ratio of 1:706. This means that this station has the third worst police to population ratio of all police stations in the metropolitan area.
The Western Cape Government (WCG) has no executive control over the South African Police Service (SAPS) and can only conduct oversight over policing. The number of police stations, how many officers, detectives and visible policing vehicles are stationed there are not up to the WCG. While community policing is being driven, the policing vacuum in the Western Cape is costing young lives.
Regards
Mireille Wenger
