ONDANGWA: The Namibian Police Force (NamPol) in the Oshana Region continue to face challenges of mobility to attend timely to reports.
Hence the Regional Commander, Commissioner Naftal Lungameni Sakaria is now availing his designated vehicle to be used by police officers when there are no vehicles available.
Sakaria revealed this in an interview with Nampa on Wednesday, saying that officers need to be honest with the public members, if there are no vehicles available they should be honest about it and tell the current situation on the ground, rather than having people saying they are not doing their work.
According to Sakaria, the region has only about eight vehicles that are functioning with most of them grounded due to minor issues.
‘If there are no vehicles consult me, if I am not doing anything or attending meetings then my vehicle can be available to attend to a report,’ he said.
He stressed that they need mobility if they are to effectively combat crime in the region, and this requires the assistan
ce of local business people and stakeholders to play their part in assisting the force.
Sakaria indicated that the police vehicles in Oshana were given in 2015, making it the last time they received vehicles, and the mileage on those vehicles are about 500 000kms on a vehicle.
‘This means that the vehicle is so old and even if one turns to fix it today, in a week’s time it will break down as a police vehicle runs 24 hours,’ he stated.
Sakaria then applauded a local businessman based at Oniipa, Johannes Sakaria of JSN Automotive Group, who on Wednesday handed over a vehicle at the Ondangwa Police Station that he fixed as part of assisting NamPol in the fight against crime.
Johannes indicated that the fixing of the vehicle cost him about N.dollars 17 000, and an investment he is glad he has made.
‘There is no way the members of the police can be seen driving vehicles that are in a bad state when something can be done,’ he said.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency