The gravity of crime in Alexandra also traumatises police officers and nurses who, like residents, encounter crime daily and experience the fear that goes with it.
In the fight to remove fear and crime, Major Edward Nefolovodwe of Alexandra Police Station is calling for a stronger relationship between community members and police officers.
“Crime will only stop if residents provide police with information that will enable them to stamp it out before it is a deeply entrenched and impossible culture to eradicate,” he said.
Nefolovodwe addressed the public at a Social Crime Prevention Campaign held at Alexandra Police Station. “Most of the crimes are extremely violent, [which] happens mainly on Friday to Sunday and affects the Alex Clinic nurses through the number of bloodied bodies brought for treatment resulting from stab wounds, shootings in domestic violence, house robberies and fights at taverns and on the streets,” he said.
Nefolovodwe said the police were also traumatised when handling crime cases and by witnessing the elderly murdered in their homes for their meagre property and pension money.
“The cycle of trauma goes beyond Alexandra as our own parents are also worried about our safety whenever they hear we are transferred to Alexandra,” he said.
He attributed the crime problem to a lack of unity among residents who choose not to report crime and the blatant violation of most laws, especially relating to alcohol trading and heavy consumption by residents. Nefolovodwe urged tavern owners to trade within prescribed hours and to accommodate patrons who were drunk until they sobered up before going home. This he said in reference to the high number of women said to be raped and other patrons who are killed weekly when walking home intoxicated from taverns.
