Parow police station celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.The building housing the station and a municipal court was built at a cost of R486 000 to meet the needs of a growing community.
It was opened officially on November 8 1968. Originally, the police station had been at 171 Voortrekker Road, where the post office is today.
The new facilities included living quarters for 21 policemen and flats for 11 married members of the force.
As the area continued to grow, a need arose for a separate police station south of Parow Valley, and, on October 18 1985, the Ravensmead police station was completed.
Parow police spokesman Captain Kevin Williams said a change to policing boundaries in the area in 1998 had seen Kleinbosch being policed by Bothasig SAPS.
Todaytheprecinctcovers 38.21km², of which 15km² is De Grendel Estate.
Captain Williams has been at the station for seven years and has seen a lot of changes in that time.
“When I started working here, I found the demographic of the employees to be less multi-cultural. As the years progressed, that changed, and over the last three years, I have seen radical change here.”
He said residents had also become a lot more involved in crime fighting “as opposed to seven years ago when they had quite a nonchalant attitude in helping the police” .
To get involved in the station’s 50th anniversary celebrations later this year, email parowcomm@saps.gov.za