JOHANNESBURG, April 20 (JTA) — Escalating crime in Johannesburg has led residents of two mainly Jewish neighborhoods to establish and fund their own police station. Residents of the northeastern suburbs of Glenhazel and Sandringham are raising funds to rent a building and to purchase vehicles, furniture and equipment. The annual cost of the station is estimated at some $100,000 to $200,000. Residents of the two suburbs have complained that many of the police working in their areas were poorly trained and did not speak or understand English well. “There is a lack of discipline among some of the police, there are many untrained and illiterate policemen manning the station and conditions for our reservists are not ideal,” said Gerald Leissner, of the Greater Glenhazel Home Owners Association. The homeowners association has decided to divert funds currently being paid to private security companies to the new community-funded police station. Although it will be under the control of the South African Police Service, the new station will be staffed mainly by police reservists and civilians. Of 200 police reservists recruited last year in the Sandringham police district, all but one were Jewish.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
