Members of the community and law enforcement came together to protect their community against crime during an operation on the corner of Alpine and uMngeni Road on Wednesday, 21 August.
Members of the Mayville Community Policing Forum, the SAPS, Metro Police and member of Community in Blue were present at a Vehicle Control Point (VCP), set up at the intersection at around 7pm. Vehicle control points form part of integrated policing and increase police visibility to help prevent crime before it happens.
This operation carried out between law enforcement and organisations such as the CPF and Community in Blue serve to strengthen ties between the community and Law Enforcement. A relationship that concillor Imtiaz Syed, chairperson of the Mayville CPF believes is of paramount importance in building a safer community. “We are seeing a rampant increase in petty theft and other petty crime in the area of Overport, in light of this, these kinds of operations are important. It is important that communities get involved in the fight against crime. We need to work together with the SAPS and other law enforcement agencies as well as security companies to make our communities safer. Everyone needs to get involved, it’s our fight and we need to do it together,” he said.
This sentiment of co-operation was shared by Yunus Syed, the eThekwini District youth crime prevention chairman, who encouraged youth to engage with law enforcement. He said “We need to understand that youth makes up approximately 40% of the population but also that youth makes up 100% of the future. It is important for the youth to be involved with policing and community safety because everything starts with us. The police are not allknowing and allseeing, they cannot help us if we don’t go to them as such, we need to be proactive in our engagements. While our elders can give us guidance, we have the energy to put our feet on the ground and do the actual work.”
