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2013 NMB Metro Police plan delayed

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The following is an extract from a speech, where a plan to launch a metro police force in NMB was tabled, delivered by DA Mayoral Candidate for NMB, Athol Trollip, outside the Gelvandale home of 2 year old, Caydene Ruiters, who was shot and killed in gang crossfire late last year.

The DA has in its possession an existing and already adopted and gazetted plan to establish a Metro Police Service in Nelson Mandela Bay.

This plan was declared a “special project of the executive mayor” on the 20th June 2013.

The delay by the current ANC government in NMB to launch and operate a Metro Police service is final confirmation of the complete disarray and mayem in which the ANC finds itself in NMB. This continues to keep our people unsafe, and subjecting communities to gangsterism and crime.

In late October 2015, the current ANC Mayor asked for “a tangible, cost-effective plan to launch the metro police”, which needed to be on his desk by the end of November, at the latest. Two months later, there is still no plan and no officers on the beat, because the ANC simply does not care enough to act.

All we have seen so far is Mayor Jordaan unveiling borrowed vehicles at glitzy events, with absolutely no boots on the ground. The ANC must surely understand that these political stunts don’t save lives and only waste valuable tax payers’ money.

Gangsterism and crime continue to keep our people in constant fear with 80% of Nelson Mandela Bay’s residents too afraid to go out at night.

The plan, which sees the Metro Police run by the Safety and Security Directorate, includes:

  • Requirements for the training and hiring of officers
  • Uniform and equipment procurement procedures
  • Organogram and staffing structure
  • Cooperation procedure between other safety and security arms
  • Enforcement of by-laws
  • Road Safety considerations
  • The establishment of precincts police stations

Under a DA government a Metro Police service will also:

  • Introduce a specialised anti-gang and anti-drug unit
  • Introduce a school security unit to prevent drug dealers from preying on our youth
  • Increase visible policing in all communities to prevent crime before it happens

This plan, developed years ago, has been studied by experts and adequately covers the logistical requirements for the launch of a metro police force. It was priced in 2009, and will be updated by the DA when we have the opportunity to implement it.

The DA challenges the ANC to start taking the fight against crime and gangsterism seriously by executing this already-adopted plan when it is put to council at its next sitting. It is clear that the ANC has no plan, and therefore this existing plan to launch a Metro Police service right away, must surely be honestly and seriously considered.

Should the ANC choose to ignore this plan, it will be choosing to send more NMB residents into the firing line of crime.

The DA is committed to a functional, and thorough Metro Police, and in government in NMB we would ensure that a Metro Police service clamps down on crime.

Change is coming in Election 2016; change that delivers true freedom, fairness and opportunity.

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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.