Inner city businesses are up in arms about the failure of police to maintain a strong presence in the Church Square area. This follows an attempted robbery outside Grocott's Mail yesterday that left a shopper terrified and determined not to return. Police, called to the scene, took 25 minutes to arrive.
Inner city businesses are up in arms about the failure of police to maintain a strong presence in the Church Square area. This follows an attempted robbery outside Grocott's Mail yesterday that left a shopper terrified and determined not to return. Police, called to the scene, took 25 minutes to arrive.
This is not the only recent incident of its kind and staff at several Church Square shops are concerned about the rising incidence of petty crime and what they say is the lack of visible policing in the area.
"I'm fed up," he said. "It's about time that the police patrolled the area. I've phoned them on several occasions complaining about muggings and they assure me they are patrolling the area. But it's just not true."
Manager of Pep Stores, Ronnie Scheepers, said he had often called the police.
"There's this group of four guys walking up and down snatching people's purses, and the police have never pitched up. I don't care any more what happens, because when I call the police just don't come. They are just useless," Scheepers said.
At Clicks, next-door but one to Grocott's, manager Frances Hutton said, "Fridays, Saturdays and month-ends we get so many people up to no good outside the shop. I don't know if they (the police) want something serious to happen before they will come."
Staff at the Oatlands Bakery, next door, commented that there were "a lot of dangerous people outside" and that the lack of police visibility made these people "feel at home here".
The woman involved in yesterday's incident asked not to be identified. She said she had parked her car outside Grocott's because she was dropping off shoes in the building for repairs and also had to run a few errands at Birch's across the street.
She said she suspected some scheming between a car guard and the man who later tried to rob her.
When she had finished her errands, she got into the car and while she was talking to the car guard, a man opened the passenger door and grabbed one of her parcels. Finding nothing of value, he threw it back.
Meanwhile, workers from Copper Eagle Security, who were upgrading the alarm system at a shop nearby, were watching events and apprehended the suspect. Edward Preston, one of the security guards, commented, "These guys who commit such crimes are normally working with car guards."
Commenting on criticism of the police, Captain Mali Govender said, "We don't get enough reported cases. We can only determine a hotspot and take appropriate action if crimes are reported to us."
