Sebenza Community Policing Forum (CPF)Â chairman Andrew Mosesi has called on the community to work together with SAPS in combatting crime.
Mosesi said he was concerned because they don’t seem to be winning the fight against crime in the area.
“We need the community to work with the CPF and SAPS because at the moment there is a lack of community involvement. People don’t even attend CPF meetings.
“One of the challenges we are faced with is that community members are divided on certain issues. We wanted to put together a forum where we would educate and inform domestic workers about crime trends because most of the time they are alone in the house during the day when their employers are at work.
“We wanted a forum where we would be able to give them tips on how to ensure their safety and what they can do to keep safe; however, some home owners are against that idea as they think some domestic workers are informers to the criminals,” said Mosesi.
He said home owners felt like the forum would be giving the domestic workers too much information that could be shared with criminals.
He also urged community members to sign a petition opposing bail as soon as a suspect is arrested.
“If a suspect is arrested, community members must sign a petition the following day to oppose bail because in most cases you find that the suspect is a repeat offender and when they are released they go out and commit more crimes. We need community involvement, especially when it comes to repeat offenders,” he said.
He said there were some areas where the CPF has been successful in implementing some of its goals.
He said they have managed to bring together businesses in Croydon and formed a WhatsApp group where they share safety tips with the business owners.
“Such groups are very informative because we are able to communicate with the owners and also give advice where we feel their security measures need to be improved,” said Mosesi.
He also thanked Edenvale ward councillor, Heather Hart, for bringing together businesses in the Sebenza industrial area to form the Sebenza Business Forum.
“Clr Hart did a good job in bringing together the businesses because we have met and I can see that we are going to have a good working relationship,” he said.
He said the forums are very important because they give advice to business owners regarding the security of their businesses and they share information about crime trends. “Once they know what the trends are, they will be able to put measures in place to deal with them,” he said.
He said in places like Cresslawn and Esther Park, crime had decreased because of community involvement and the relationship between the community, SAPS, security companies and the CPF.
“Some incidents can be avoided if people know what to look out for and that is only possible if we all work together,” said Mosesi.
He also encouraged other ward councillors to work together with the CPF and the station commander because some of the issues that come up in meetings relate to service delivery.
“Sometimes issues like street lights that are not working increase muggings and when those things come up, ward councillors are able to take note and deal with them,” he said.
On June 21, there will be a Station Broader Forum meeting at the Sebenza Police Station.
Mosesi urged security companies within Sebenza, business forums, EMPD and JMPD to attend this meeting. It will start at 6pm.
