The Mayville SAPS Community Police are stepping up their fight against crime and one of the aspects of this exercise is to forge greater working partnerships with role players and to encourage stronger community participation.
Acting Station Commander of Mayville SAPS, Captain SC Sithole, said that his office is encouraging all residents to report crime – no matter how small the incident might seem. “It is important to report crime so that we can keep track of what is going on in the areas. If residents are going to take things for granted and do not report crime, how are we going to compile statistics and focus on problematic areas or hot spots?” said Capt Sithole.
He said that working together with role players like security companies and getting information from the public has proven to be rewarding. Another programme that is making headway is the “Community in Blue” (CIB) strategy. The CIB is not a community police forum (CPF) initiative but rather that of the SAPS and can be regarded as an “extension” of the police.
Mayville SAPS CPF Chairperson, Imtiaz Syed, said that the CPF and CIB were two separate directives and will work as such. “We must understand that the CPF is a conduit between the community and the police while the CIB is entirely an SAPS initiative, thus the two must not be confused.
“The CPF is mandated to facilitate community-police relations within a specific boundary, serving as a mouthpiece for the community and vice versa. The CIB, on the other hand, aims to ‘operationalise’ the concept of community policing with a view of stimulating active citizenry and citizen participation in the fight against crime. This is thus a strategic policy platform to get all communities involved in the fight against crime; to efficiently reduce crime,” said Syed.
Capt Sithole said that the community should be encouraged to gather information through the CPF structures like sub-forums and sectors so that the police would be able to identify crime patterns.
“There is a new anti-drug unit that has been established and the members are eager to get on with their work. We need people to come forward and report this to us. It can be done confidentially. Several crime hotspots in the Mayville area were identified. Areas were monitored and patrols were increased. We especially saw results in areas where we have been working with security companies.
“Community partnerships were yielding positive results where incidents were quickly reported. For example in Sector 1B we saw a reduction in cable theft. The same suspects were operating in the area where one suspect was arrested twice. We also identified a smash-and-grab hotspot where one person was arrested. The suspect led police to a house where the other suspects were found. The situation has subsided but we encourage drivers to always remain vigilant at intersections,” said Capt Sithole.
One area of concern was the increase in the number of stolen water meters and the theft of copper cables which has been one of the factors contributing to the many streetlight outages in eThekwini. Head of detectives, Captain John Ngema, said that even though this was a problem, residents were still not reporting the theft of water meters.
“This must be reported and residents must get a case number. Reporting the theft of water meters also helps residents with their utility bill because a high volume of water is being lost and this can sometimes go on for a day. Having the matter reported can help residents with a claim against them being billed for wasted water,” said Capt Ngema.
He added that when residents call the police station, they should get a reference number for their call, which is usually an OB (occurrence book) number and the name of the detective who took the complaint. “If anyone is unhappy with the manner in which their matter is being handled, they should come to the police station and ask for me so that we may help them further. However, it is best and faster to call 10111.”
Captain Luke Kalidin of the Metro Police echoed the sentiments of the SAPS, saying that all crime must be reported. “Residents should call the eThekwini Municipality’s one-call emergency number (031-361-0000) and ask for Metro Police Central, or tell the operator which area you are calling from so that your call might be directed,” said Capt Kalidin.
Schools are one of the focus areas in addressing the youth on crime. The Department of Community Safety and Liaison has a programme through “Safer Cities” which goes from school to school to speak about several issues affecting learners. CPF members should speak to school governing bodies to consider bringing these programmes to their schools and the eThekwini Mayor has encouraged this programme to be rolled out at schools where crime, drugs and social ills need to be addressed.
He said that wards must be “activated” through CPFs by developing programmes that would be beneficial for communities.
CPF Deputy Chairperson, Janus Horn, said that in his sector, the residents took it upon themselves to install CCTV cameras with numberplate recognition capabilities to monitor the area. He said that the cameras helped greatly with the reduction of crime in the area, however, he remained concerned that learners and students are still the victims of thugs who mug them.
