Resources an issue but Honeydew police try their best

HONEYDEW – Honeydew Police Station statistics reveal that it deals with a relatively high number of cases due to the size of the area it services.

Honeydew services a large area in Joburg.

Honeydew Police Station is among the five stations in Gauteng with the highest number of crimes reported because it serves such a large area. This is according to the station’s spokesperson, Captain Balan Muthan.

“The station services a large area with some places that have a dense population like Cosmo City and Zandspruit,” he said. Muthan said the station is trying to deploy more resources because of the population increase. “Resources are an issue, but we try our best,” he said.

Focusing on crimes committed in the province in the last year, Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Deliwe de Lange this week revealed that the murder rate has increased by 4.7 per cent with 3 842 cases reported. Sexual offences decreased by 4 per cent with 9 510 cases reported. The Johannesburg Central, Hillbrow, Sandton and Pretoria Central police stations join Honeydew Police Station as the top five stations with the highest number of crimes reported.

According to statistic released by the South African Police Service for April last year until March this year, 28 more murder cases were opened than the previous year’s 48 cases.

In total, there were 3 225 contact crimes reported at Honeydew Police Station, that saw an increase of 3.7 per cent of said crimes. Property-related crimes decreased by 13.6 per cent. Burglary at residential premises decreased by 15.7 per cent. No bank or cash-in-transit robberies were reported at the station this year. Sexual offence cases decreased this year, with 17 fewer reported than the previous year’s 170 cases.

Kate Lorimer, a member of the Provincial Legislature for Safety and Security, said she did not believe that the sexual offences statistics are a true reflection of what happens in reality and should be higher. “The main problem is, people feel harassed at police stations when reporting sexual offences,” she alleged.

Muthan said the goal is always to reduce crime, thus reducing the high number of crimes reported at the station. On 16 September, Cosmo City residents organised a peaceful march against crime in the area, causing heavy traffic delays.