Cape Town’s police are crashing an average of more than three vehicles every day, with a total of 1309 crashes involving police vehicles recorded during the 2016/17 financial year. 32 police officers were disciplined for the misuse of police vehicles.
The Western Cape police’s annual report, presented in the Western Cape legislature, shows how many collisions police vehicles were involved in. 347 for the first quarter of the 2016/17 financial year, 322 in the second quarter, 313 in the third and 327 in the fourth quarter.
Brigadier Preston Voskuil, who presented the annual report, said the province had established vehicle risk committees at all police stations that monitored alleged misuse and abuse of official police vehicles.
“During the reported period, 46 members had their authorities to drive official vehicles suspended. During the same period, disciplinary steps were instituted against 32 member for misuse and or abuse of police vehicles,” said Voskuil.
The Western Cape received an annual budget of just over R110 million for the purchasing of new vehicles. 419 vehicles, most of which were bakkies, were purchased in total.
Three Nyala riot compartment trucks were also purchased by police. Several Nyalas are at a service centre in Blackheath, police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut, said they were in for routine maintenance.
“The management of the police will not allow defective vehicles or scheduled maintenance to hamper service delivery,” Traut said. “If a vehicle is withdrawn from service, alternative measures are immediately instituted.”
Out of the 6782 vehicles, 3213 are active vehicles, 336 are trailers, 190 motorcycles, 33 boats and 10 machinery.
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