24th November 2011

Cops cars idle after licences lapse

 Despite nearly 20 Pretoria flying squad high-performance cars being “impounded” by the police management because of expired licence discs and members either having to use their own private  vehicles to conduct patrols or hitch-hiking to their patrol areas, the Gauteng police management insists there has been no impact on service delivery.

The Pretoria News has discovered that for nearly two weeks, members of the unit have legally been prevented from using most of their vehicles because the licence discs of the unit’s vehicles have expired.

The discovery comes as members of the Pretoria K9 unit face similar problems, with three of their four cars having expired licence discs.

“While we understand the Flying Squad members’ concerns, we are not going to just sit around. The instructions not to use the cars if the 21-day mandatory period has passed are ridiculous and, as far as we are concerned, illegal. We will not obey them and we are working because it is our job to fight crime,” said a K9 unit member.

Some of the discs of the flying squad cars expired nearly two months ago.

While the police management claims there is no crisis, many of the unit’s members disagree.

The newspaper has learnt that in at least two instances in the past week, members of the flying squad were given lifts after motorists spotted them walking and hitch-hiking. A motorist, who alerted the Pretoria News to what was happening, said it was disgraceful.