Beacon Bay police station
in dire straits
By BONGANI FUZILE on
May 4, 2013
BEACON Bay residents have accused police of ignoring the suburb’s police
station and allowing it to fall into a “disgraceful and filthy” state.
PLACE OF UNSAFETY: The picture shows how easy it is to steal dockets
through an open window at Beacon Bay police station Picture: SUPPLIED
The station apparently does not even have proper holding cells and
suspects are not always locked in the one cell that is available.
The Saturday Dispatch has fielded a number of calls from concerned residents to expose what they say is a disaster waiting to happen.
Provincial police spokes- woman Brigadier Marinda Mills admitted the situation
was not ideal but said the station was in a converted domestic house, which
imposed several logistical limitations .
A two-week investigation by the Saturday Dispatch can today reveal that:
l Rape test kits are kept in the kitchen, instead of a cool locked safe;
l Police dockets are kept in unlocked rooms near open windows;
l Arrested suspects are put in an unlocked holding cell while some are kept in the station’s charge office;
PLACE OF UNSAFETY: The rape test kits, circled, are kept in the kitchen.
Picture: SUPPLIED
l The station does not have proper perimeter fencing which is a security
concern; and
l The station has broken furniture, leaving officers little option but to stand while working.
A Dispatch team visiting the station during the course of the week was able to access offices where dockets were kept without being confronted.
l The station has broken furniture, leaving officers little option but to stand while working.
A Dispatch team visiting the station during the course of the week was able to access offices where dockets were kept without being confronted.
“The main problem is when we are in the charge office with arrested suspects
roaming around . They can grab our firearms and hold us hostage here,” said
one.
Mills confirmed that the station had no proper holding cells but said suspects were taken to the East London police station holding cells. “The temporary holding cell at the station is used only for the time it takes to process a detainee until he or she can be transported to East London,” she said.
Dispatch reader Marvin Douglas said the situation at the station put
police officers’ lives at risk. “When I arrived there the other night,
accompanying a colleague who had a burglary, I was shocked to notice that
suspects were put in an unlocked holding cell while some were sitting next to
police officers without handcuffs,” he said. —
