JMPD 'threatens' sick resident
...show more altercation with JMPD "officers" took place. ...show less
Diabetic man threatened by JMPD officers with no identification.
10 October 2012 | Riaan van Zyl
Being a diabetic, Jan von der Heyde takes a walk along the same route every day and usually greets the JMPD officers speed-trapping on JG Strijdom Road.
On 21 September however, when he exercised his right as a citizen, things turned nasty.
Three days prior to the incident he noticed that the female officer operating the camera had no identification badge and asked her about it.
She said it was in the car and he left it at that, feeling that it is a perfectly plausible excuse.
The next day passing the same spot he saw the same officer not wearing her name badge and again he asked her where it was.
This time she said she left it at home.
He also asked her to see the certification for the use of the camera which she could produce but, according to him, because she could not be identified the certification could have been for any person.
On the third day the same officer, on being asked, said that she actually did not know where her name badge was.
It is a fact that names are being embroidered onto uniforms at the moment but there should be some kind of identification, he feels.
When he confronted the female (this time accompanied by a colleague) he said that for all purposes the two could be arrested for impersonating officers.
This sparked a physical reaction as she apparently hit his camera out of his hands and threatened to pepper spray him.
He managed to photograph the vehicle her colleague was sitting in. The Northsider is in the process of determining wether the licence plate is that of a private or JMPD vehicle and has the surname of one of the persons.
According to a source at Justice Project South Africa Von der Heyden could indeed have laid a charge of impersonating a police officer as well as threatening with violence and damage to property against them.
Not being identifiable also creates the perfect situation for accepting bribes.
Von der Heyden says that he is too scared of being persecuted by the JMPD and even disguised himself for the photograph.
