DUE to the inclement weather last Tuesday night, the Bulwer Safety and Urban Regeneration Forum (BSURF) meeting was not well attended, however the 24 people present enjoyed an informative meeting.
Umbilo SAPS W/O D Narian gave feedback on basic crime stats, and spoke about huge challenges police were faced with regarding the homeless who gathered under the bridge near Che Guevara Road. He said SAPS were doing their best to try stop crime under tough circumstances.
Commenting on this issue, BSURF chairman Heather Roos reported that there was no easy or quick fix solution to the problem of the homeless congregating under the bridge. She said this this was a Social Services issue who needed to identify a placw where the homeless could be accommodated.
“SAPS and Metro Police do not have these types of facilities to just go and move these people to. In fact, when the police and CPF try and place an abandoned child, or a neglected youth in a safe facility, or try to re-home a child or even an abused woman, the necessary paper work and trying to get assistance from social workers and from the right facilities can take up a whole day, so imagine trying to process the hundreds that are under the bridge. This certainly is not just a policing responsibility,” she said.
Narian also spoke about the upcoming festive season and assured the residents that SAPS would increase patrols, including foot patrols, around shopping centres, hospitals and banks within the community, as well as other widely used public spaces.
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Residents were advised to make use of 10111 when reporting crime, as all these calls are logged and recorded. They were urged to note down the date and time of calls, and to always ask for a reference number before ending a call.
Metro Police will also be stepping up more patrols, and will hold more roadblocks and will adopt zero tolerance to drinking and driving. For noise disturbances, residents are asked to call 031 361 0000, and urged to log time and date of calls and to get a reference number. Residents were asked to be patient as other more serious crime will take preference over noise complaints.
Addressing residents, Roos mentioned the many meetings that the CPF has had with senior officers from Metro Police and SAPS, the ward councillor and other relevant departments regarding the problems of brothels, prostitution and drugs, and assured residents that these problems have been taken very seriously by the CPF and are not being overlooked or ignored.
“We are now engaging with other legal departments and an attorney to look at other ways to deal with these problems. Often the community does not see or hear about all the work we do as a CPF as we cannot make all that we are doing public. Residents need to know that with anything reported to us as a CPF directly, we will most certainly take the necessary steps, and if it is not a crime related issue we will hand it over to the necessary departments to follow up,” she said.
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