Newly appointed Muldersdrift Police Station commander Lieutenant Colonel Albert van Rooyen plans to strengthen the relationship between communities and police in a bid to address various crimes that have been plaguing the police precinct.
Van Rooyen has taken over from Captain Buti Phiri.
“The challenges at this stage are instances of hijacking, armed and house robberies [farm attacks]. Firstly, I need to allocate the available resources to try and curb those crimes and endeavour to get a good relationship with the Community Police Forum and communities at large so that it becomes a combined effort to address serious crimes in the area,” he said.
Van Rooyen began his career at the age of 18, in 1989 and has worked his way up to the top at different police stations in Gauteng.
“I have 28 years in service. I started my career at Johannesburg Central Police Station, and from there I was transferred to Krugersdorp where I worked from 1990 to 2000. From 2000, I was promoted to be a Vispol commander in Magaliesburg for 17 years.”
Since his appointment, the station has started gaining positive results. This includes a successful operation where police uprooted more than 100 plants of dagga on Plot 17.
“We received information about a dagga plantation and went to the plot in Driefontein Road where we managed to uproot the dagga with help from the community,” said Warrant Officer Masedi Masedi, spokesperson at the station.
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