The Randburg Community Policing Forum (CPF) share how they can play a vital role in preventing crime and assisting the police.
Community Policing Forums act as a direct link between the South African Police Service and the communities they serve. These forums are a legislated initiative giving civilian oversight into a state function. They are also an effective way to promote accountability between the police service and the communities it serves.
The general objectives of these forums are to assist the police by:
- Identifying community-specific needs and communicating these to help focus limited resources on these crime priorities
- Building this special relationship to facilitate the gathering of crime intelligence, to create community trust and to achieve police objectives with the community’s help
- Obtaining resources and support from the community to enable the police service to best carry out its functions and activities
- Providing police perspectives and needs in crime prevention and criminal prosecutions to the community
- Monitoring the effectiveness of police services within the community providing feedback to police management.
The Randburg policing precinct is divided into three smaller, manageable areas. Each sector has a responsible police commander who is familiar with the area, its problems and its unique security requirements and challenges.
Each sector has its own CPF committee which is the direct link between the community and the police. The cooperation enables targeted, visible police patrols, rapid response to complaints, a way to address crime generators and investigations into reported cases.
In this way, each community is supported by a localised police service meeting their specific needs.
According to Kerry Wetton, the interim chairperson for the Randburg CPF, the work of the CPF and the police have yielded great success recently including the shutdown of a major drug manufacturing facility in Randburg. Following the information provided by the community, the police placed the property under surveillance.
In a follow-up raid on the property, the police uncovered a cache of drugs as well as machinery which could have resulted in illegal drug manufacturing on a large scale.
He also said that in another successful raid, police arrested three suspects for armed robbery. The group of men had been operating at the intersection of Peter Place and Bram Fisher Drive, by threatening motorists while traffic was stationary and also robbing motorists.
Acting on information provided by the community, police officers were deployed to this ‘hotspot’ and were able to apprehend the suspects.
These initiatives show how the police is able to serve the local community with focused action and support.
Details: Randburg Police Station 011 449 9110.
Are you a part of a CPF? Share your experience on the Sandton Chronicle Facebook page
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