Police buildings are a safe haven ... for criminals

Police residences should be free from illegal activity. After all‚ it’s here where our men and women in blue – the law enforcement officers whose primary duty is to the protect people and property – live.

But this is not the case in Durban‚ where police blocks of flats – which accommodate thousands of officers and their families – have become havens of illegal activities. Squatters have taken over‚ and are making a roaring trade by selling drugs and counterfeit goods right under the noses of our police officers.

The situation is so out of control that Durban cops had to raid their own buildings at the weekend‚ netting heroin‚ counterfeit DVDs and illegal occupants.

The KwaZulu-Natal police said funds were allocated by Public Works to renovate the police accommodation‚ but residents had refused to move out‚ resulting in the SAPS turning to the courts and serving eviction orders on them. It appeared that as the previous occupants moved out‚ unauthorised persons had sneaked in and were trespassing on police premises. The police were “dealing with” this.

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